Women of the Bible

Sarah: A Woman of Submission and Faith

Gen. 11:28-13:4; 16:1-18:15; 20:1-21:12; 23:1-19; 24:36, 67; 25: 10, 12; 49:31; Isa. 51:2;

Acts 7:2-8; Rom. 4:19; 9:9; Gal. 4:21-31; Heb. 11:11; 1Pe. 3:6

by Kathryn Capoccia

The book of James says, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone has faith but he has no works?’ And “I will show you my faith by my works” (Heb. 2:14, 18). Sarah’s life demonstrated her faith in her husband and in her God, Yahweh, sometimes under the most trying of circumstances. The book of First Peter uses Sarah as an example of a holy woman who trusted in God, had a gentle and quiet spirit and was submissive to her husband (1Pe. 3:5-6). In fact, the book of Hebrews lists Sarah as one of the great heroes of faith (Heb. 11:11). Though her faith was at times weak, and her actions were sometimes sinful, yet she shines forth as a woman of submissive faith and is counted as the beloved matriarch of Israel.

WHO WAS SARAH?

Sarai was named “my princess:”

Her father, Terah (“station,” “wanderer,” “wild goat,” or “old fool”), and his second wife (GEN 20:12), named her Sarai, “my princess,” when she was born in 2155 BC.[1] She was his only daughter, and although he had three older sons, Abram (“exalted father”), Nahor (“snort or snorting”), and Haran (“mountain or mountaineer”), perhaps the fact that his last child was a daughter made her a special treasure to him. The name Sarai may be derived from the Hebrew word sar, meaning “prince, ruler, leader, chief, captain or commander,” or “someone in whom a society’s wealth is concentrated,”[2] and some have translated this name to be “female noble;”[3] however, it could be Sarrat, one of the names for the pagan god Ishtar, meaning, “queen.”[4] In either case this name, Sarai, indicates that she came from “an honored family.”[5] Later in her life God would change her name from Sarai (“my princess”) to Sarah (“princess”) when she came under a covenant of blessing (Gen. 17:5).

Sarai was a married woman:

“Now Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they departed together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran and settled there” (Gen. 11:31).

“Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah” (Gen. 11:29-30).

A. Sarai’s society expected all to be married:

1. Sumerians and Akkadians regarded marriage as one of the factors of a stable society:

a. Marriages were for procreation: they were seen as a way to ensure the continuation of a family line and for inheritance purposes.

b. Marriages created close familial ties and knit extended family members together.

c. Marriages were monogamous (but divorce was easily available for men).

2. Sumerians and Akkadians arranged marriages for their children:

a. Marriages involved a contract between the bride and groom and the parents of the bride and groom. Normally a marriage contract would see the family of the bride and the family of the groom making a binding betrothal contract for the couple; the groom’s family would be expected to pay a bride-price to the bride’s family, and the bride’s father would be expected to pay a dowry to the couple and arrange for a week-long marriage celebration.

b. Marriages were often arranged when their children were very young: girls had to be at least three feet tall to be betrothed to be married and boys had to be ten years old to be betrothed. The consummation of the marriage would take place when the girl reached puberty, usually between 14-18 years of age. However, it was normal for the groom to be older than the bride by at least ten years.

c. Marriages started procreation for couples; girls usually delivered their first child at 16 and had an average of seven children throughout their reproductive years. However, it was not unheard of for a woman to start childbearing at age 35 or older (people lived longer lives then).[6]

3. Sumerians and Akkadians sometimes permitted rich widows to remain unmarried.[7]

B. Sarai was married to Abram in Ur:

1. Abram was her half-brother, born in Ur in 2165 B.C. when their father, Terah was 130 years old.[8]

a. His father, Terah, was Sarai’s father too, but they had different mothers (Gen. 20:12).

“She [Sarai] actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother” (Gen. 20:12).

b. Abram was 10 years older than Sarai (Gen. 17:17).

2. Abram became her husband:

“Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of

Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah” (Gen. 11:29).

“She became my wife” (GEN 20:12).

a. Abram “took,” laqach, “to take, accept, receive, marry,” Sarai to be his wife.

b. Sarai “became,” hayah, “to fall out, come to pass, become, be,” his “wife,” ishshah,

“woman, wife.”

Abram and Sarai grew up together in Terah’s household and it may have seemed a natural thing that they should marry since they were only half-siblings and the right ages.

Terah would probably have arranged for the wedding ceremony and marriage week for Sarai and Abram but Scripture is silent about the details of their union. After their wedding Terah referred to Sarai as his “daughter-in-law” and as “Abram’s wife,” so, he had relinquished authority over his daughter to Abram (Gen. 11:31). However, Abram and Sarai continued to live under Terah’s headship until his death in Haran (Gen. 11:32; 12:4).

c. Brother-sister marriages were not common outside of royal or noble families, and the practice may have been used to keep power and resources within the family.[9] There were no Biblical restrictions on consanguine marriages then.[10]

d. Sarai, once married, was considered to be the property of Abram and was expected to be subordinate to him, but their relationship together determined their actual marital dynamics;[11] but her husband assumed the role of governing her life and making decisions on her behalf.[12]

C. Sarai was barren:

“Sarai was barren; she had no child” (Gen. 11:30).

“[Abram said] I am childless… You [God] have given no offspring to me” (Gen. 15:2-3).

“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children” (Gen. 16:1).

When Scripture introduces us to Sarai we are told two things about her, she is Abram’s wife, and she is barren.

Coming from a society that so valued progeny, her inability to produce an heir must have been deeply wounding.

To be barren was a great grief to women and considered a sign of God's disfavor (Gen. 30:1; 1 Sa. 1:6; Luke 1:36-58).

As John MacArthur noted,

“She was obviously tortured by her childlessness. Every recorded episode of ill temper or strife in her household was related to her frustrations about her own barrenness. It ate at her.”[13]

1. Sarai was barren, aqar, “without an offshoot, a barren woman” (Gen. 11:30; 16:1-8; 21:1,2); a barren wife or a displeasing one could be divorced by her husband simply with the words, “You are not my wife.”[14]

2. Sarai’s childlessness was considered to be her fault, a misfortune, and she would have had to endure “special rituals, magical incantations and prescriptions” to make her conceive.[15]

3. Sarai’s society permitted a man to take a second wife or a concubine if his first wife proved to be infertile.[16]

4. Sarai and Abram were still childless at 65 and 75 respectively when Scripture first introduces them (Gen. 11:30; 16:1), and they would remain so until Sarah was 90 and Abraham 100 (Gen. 21:2).

Sarai was a Southern Mesopotamia woman:

A. Sarai was born in Ur of the Chaldees:

(Ur of the Chaldees got its name because “Ur lay on the boundary of the region later called Kaldu (Chaldea, corresponding to Hebrew Kasdim) in the first millennium BCE;” it was not settled by the Chaldean people until the 9^th century B.C. [17]) Ur is important because it shaped their worldview:

1. Ur was an ancient city:

The southern Mesopotamian area that would become the site of Ur had been occupied from c. 5500 B.C. The city-state of Ur had been founded by the Sumerians (a non-Semitic ethnic group) in 3800 B.C. (making it the oldest recorded city on earth, past Flood), and the city’s name, Ur, means “the abode of Nanna” after their patron “moon-god,” Nanna/Sin.[18] It was conquered by Sargon of Akkad who made it part of the Akkadian Empire, the world’s first multinational civilization with a centralized government (c. 2334-2154 B.C.); it spanned the Mesopotamian area from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.[19]

2. Ur (Ur Kasdim) was a sophisticated city:

a. In the days of Sarai, Ur was a bronze-age city-state (a sovereign state consisting of an independent city and its surrounding territory)[20] with a population of about 65,000.[21] It was a walled city and had vast irrigated farm fields outside the city walls and planned streets and sewage systems within the walls. Wealthy citizens lived in the city center in multi-level, multi-room, decorated, white-washed, mud-brick houses with facings of kiln-fired bricks, windows, courtyards and gardens.[22]

b. Ur’s citizens were literate people who educated their upper-class sons (and sometimes daughters). They used a script known as “cuneiform” on tablets of clay, a form of writing employed for 3,000 years, to record business transactions, laws, history, literature, mathematics and astronomy. They were the inventors of the plow, irrigation canals, four- wheeled chariots (pulled by donkeys), sailboats, bronze armor and phalanx fighting, the 60- minute hour, the 30 day month, writing and literature (The Epic of Gilgamesh), deodorant, and make-up.[23] Akkadians (a Semitic-speaking people who spoke a language similar to Hebrew or Arabic)[24] added to these inventions the compound bow,[25] arched doorways, a postal system, mass produced pottery and bricks, standardized beer recipes, map making, and city planning.[26] Citizens of Ur spoke Sumerian for the purposes of religion, art and science, but Akkadian was the trade language of the time.[27]

3. Ur was a wealthy city:

Because of its location, on the Euphrates River and close to the Persian Gulf, Ur was a natural trading and agricultural center; early inhabitants were prosperous farmers, sailors, traders, and livestock managers.[28] Later in Ur’s history residents were wealthy exporters of textiles (wool and linen), grain, dates, fish and skins of leather; they imported “precious metals, ivory and pearls, spices, fruit trees, lumber and aromatic wood.”[29] The wealthy citizens of Ur “enjoyed a level of comfort unknown in other Mesopotamian cities.”[30]

4. Ur was a warrior city:

a. Long before it was conquered by the Akkadians, Ur had had frequent armed conflicts with its neighboring city-states over territory, irrigation water and other resources. It also fought against foreign raiders like the Elamites and Gutians. Able-bodied men, under the leadership of the king, were trained in the use of spears, swords, and battle axes, as well as in operating in phalanx formations, and in using battering rams.[31] These citizen-soldiers, numbering from a few hundred to as many as 6,000,[32]were called to arms in times of threat.

b. Ur and other city-states continued to fight against each other under Akkadian rule and they also waged war against their Akkadian overlords; however, troops from every city-state were required to drop their differences and join the professional army of Akkad when incursions from Elamites, Amorites, Gutians and other invaders had to be repulsed.[33] In the last days of the empire, about when Sarai was born, a combination of inept rule, drought, low yielding crops, environmental changes, and continual wars against raiders from the southwest and northeast[34] made the empire weak enough for the Gutian hoards (“barbarians”) from the Zagros Mountains of Iran to defeat it.[35] The Gutian’s mismanaged, decentralized rule (c. 2147-2050 B.C.[36]) brought in widespread famine, disease, death, and chaos. They were brutal as well. It was written of them, [They] “abuse the people of Babylonia by taking away the wife from the husband, the child from the parent.”[37] When Ur and neighboring Uruk had had enough, their armies fought and eventually overcame the Gutians in c. 2112 B.C..[38] A later rebellion led by Uruk and Ur finally drove the Gutians from the entire region in c. 2050 B.C.,[39] ushering in The Third Dynasty of Ur, c. 2047 B.C.; this saw a renewal of prosperity and order under Sumerian self-rule, which lasted until they were vanquished by the Elamites in c. 1940 B.C.[40]

5. Ur was a pagan city:

a. In the center of the city was its great three-tiered ziggurat, or stepped pyramid, constructed in c. 2100 B.C. by king Ur-Nammu, and dedicated to Nanna/Sin.[41] This rectangular, four-sided, man-made mountain had three great staircases leading to its first level and a small staircase which led from the first level to the second. A platform on the second tier supported the temple to Nanna/Sin. The structure was 210 x 150 feet and stood about 100 feet high. It dominated the city and would have been visible for miles. Religious and civic ceremonies would have been conducted there.[42]

b. Shrines to the thousands of gods (3,600) which the people also worshiped could be found throughout the city.[43]

c. Religion permeated the society; before the people sat down to dinner, prayers would be offered in thankfulness for their food, at other times sacrifices (blood sacrifices

of animals or humans, usually captured enemies) would be made to appease the gods so that they would provide for their needs, and work was performed in service of the gods.[44]

6. Ur was a cosmopolitan city:

a. Ur had been settled by the Sumerians, a non-Semitic people who spoke Sumerian, a non- Semitic language, and they were the largest ethnic group in Ur. They described themselves as “black-headed people:”[45] their hair was oiled, tinted with bitumen, and perfumed.[46] From archeological findings, they probably stood about five and a half feet tall.[47] Both sexes wore black eye-liner, green eye shadow and women tinted their lips red.[48] From their sculpture we see that they were stocky with pointed noses and that men wore tufted wrap-around skirts (kaunakes) of sheepskin and spotted cloaks, and women wore togas or long tunics belted at the waist. Many men were cleanshaven, particularly the ruling class, but some men wore short, trimmed beards.[49]

b. When the Akkadians, a Semitic-speaking people, conquered Ur and ruled for 250 years, they placed Akkadian governors, administrators and their supporters over the city-state. The Akkadians mixed freely with the Sumerians and were influenced by them. Their manner of dress was similar to the Sumerians. The men wore fringed skirts of goatskin or sheepskin (kaunakes), or long robes, or short-sleeved tunics and kilts; priests wore ankle length robes, while temple workers wore short skirts; the upper-class men wore long skirts and the lower- class men wore short skirts; soldiers wore hooded capes/sashes over their kilts (and full body armor on the battlefield: chainmail, grieves, and helmets); women wore colored togas; both sexes wore heavy eye make-up.[50] Rulers sported heavy full beards and long hair, and princes had shaved faces and long hair at the back of their heads; soldiers were both clean shaven and bearded.[51] The upper class men wore flared hats; footwear consisted of sandals or open boots.[52] They probably had brown-skin of differing shades.[53]

c. Other nationalities and ethnicities were probably living in the city-state as well: small groups of Elamites (no descriptions), Amorites (tall with fair skin, blue eyes, curved noses and pointed beards)[54] and Gutians (light-skinned and possibly blond)[55] probably lived there alongside the Sumerians and Akkadians.[56] Merchants from Ur’s trading partners, Magan (Oman), Meluhha (Indus Valley), Dilmun (Persian Gulf), Afghanistan, Levant (Syria and Lebanon) Egypt, Iran and Elam, Anatolia (Turkey)[57] undoubtedly also walked Ur’s streets.

B. Sarai was born into a culture that gave women rights:

According to The World History Encyclopedia, in Ur:

1. Women were ranked by their status in Ur and free upper-class women (royalty, the nobility, the clergy) like Sarai, enjoyed the greatest privileges in Ur.

2. Free women, under their husbands’ authority, could own their own businesses, buy and sell land, in rare cases live independently, initiate divorces, and wealthy widows could choose not to remarry.

3. Records indicate that women were landowners, business owners, administrators, bureaucrats, doctors, scribes, clergy, artisans and monarchs. Upper-class women had almost the same rights as men;

there had even been a queen in one of the city-states.[58]

Sarai was a desirable woman

A. She was beautiful, yapheh, “fair, beautiful;”

“It came about, when he was approaching Egypt, that he said to his wife Sarai, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman” (Gen. 12:11).

“Now it came about, when Abram entered Egypt, that the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful” (Gen. 12:14).

1. The dictionary defines these words in the following way:

a. “Fair’ as, “of pleasing appearance, comely.”[59]

b. “Beautiful” as, “having qualities that delight the senses, especially sight.”[60]

2. Sarai was very, meod, “muchness, force, abundance,” beautiful; she was strikingly beautiful. She was breathtaking; in modern vernacular, she was gorgeous. Everywhere she went she turned heads.

WHAT DID SHE LOOK LIKE?

As a citizen of the Akkadian Empire, she would have used make-up to enhance her appearance and to protect her from the harsh sun: heavy kohl (black eyeliner) around her eyes, eye shadow on her upper eyelids and lipstick on her lips. She would have oiled her skin. She would probably have been clothed in a long, brightly colored toga that wrapped around her body and over her left shoulder, leaving her right shoulder and arm undraped. Her feet would have been shod in decorated leather sandals, and she would have adorned herself with jewelry: dress pins, chokers, necklaces, large gold earrings, bracelets, ankle bracelets, hair rings, and finger rings, including a wedding band. When she went outdoors, she may have worn an ornamented woven sunshade or straw hat. She probably stood between five feet and five feet three inches tall, according to ancient skeletal remains.[61] Her hair would probably have been dark and wavy, her eyes brown, and her skin olive brown.

B. She was upper class:

She, as an upper-class woman, had probably learned to read and write. She was undoubtably multi- lingual, speaking Akkadian, Sumerian and perhaps Gutian. She would have socialized with other aristocrats, royalty, the nobility, priests and wealthy businesspeople. She would have been well-dressed in fine linen or finely woven wool; she would have had jewelry of gold, silver, lapis lazuli and carnelian which was of the finest craftsmanship.[62] She would have lived in a decorated house with windows and arched doorways and perhaps with carved bas-relief images on the walls, a two-story house near the center of town with many rooms and a central garden, filled with tables and chairs with arms, and carved wooden beds with ropes supporting wool-stuffed mattresses. She would have been used to having slaves attend her—to help her dress, to cook for her, to clean for her and to entertain her.[63]

WHAT DID SHE DO?

She Called Abram Lord

“…Your adornment must not be merely external, but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. In the former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord; and you have proved to be her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear” (1 Pe. 3:3-6).

WHO WAS ABRAM?

Abram, “exalted father,” was born in Ur, just like Sarai, when his father Terah was 130 years old. His brother Nahor was born when Terah was 70 and his brother Haran at an unknown time. However, Abram’s name always appears first in the list of Terah’s sons (Gen. 11:26-27) because he was the most prominent son. His father, Terah, was most likely a wealthy noble or upper-class citizen of Ur who had provided a privileged upbringing for Abram. Scripture does not paint much of a picture of Abram prior to his leaving Haran but some things can be deduced from the facts we have about the upper classes in Ur: Abram was educated and cultured, and had once been in the military in Ur, either as part of the city militia or as a member of the empire’s national army (since all able-bodied men were required to serve); he would later demonstrate military knowledge in training his servants to fight and in rescuing Lot (Gen. 14:13-16). When he was only 18 years old the Gutians took over the Akkadian Empire and, while the southern areas of the empire suffered less than other parts of the empire,[64] he would have probably known many years of privation under their rule. And once he married Sarai, he may have felt constant anxiety about whether the Gutians would seize Sarai from him, as it was their custom to take desirable women from their husbands. If he was still living in Ur in 2112 B.C., he may well have been part of the revolt against the hated Gutians because he would have only been 53 years old, an age comparable to a modern man’s twenties (Abraham lived to be 175 years old, Genesis 25:7-8).

Abram believed in the true God, Yahweh, and is called “a friend of God” (Jas. 2:23).

HOW COULD ANYONE HAVE HAD FAITH WHILE LIVING IN A PAGAN CULTURE?

GENERAL REVELATION:

God’s existence and providence are displayed in creation and observed by man.

“General revelation is God’s witness of Himself through the creation to His creatures.”[65]

“The heavens tell of the glory of God; and their expanse declares the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard.

Their line has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (Psa. 19:1-4).

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20).

“In past generations He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:16-17).

God’s holy law is written in men’s hearts:

“They show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them” (Rom. 2:15).

A desire for eternity is planted in men’s hearts:

“He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end” (Ecc. 3:11).

Natural revelation is meant to show mankind that God exists and to lead men to seek after the LORD; but men still need special revelation about God’s plan of salvation to enter into a saving relationship with Him.

SPECIAL REVELATION:

In the past God supernaturally revealed Himself by direct communication to mankind through prophetic utterances, the written Bible, proclamation of the word of God, and divine appearances, dreams and visions.[66]

“God…spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways” (Heb. 1:1).

Today we have the full and complete word of God preserved for us in the Holy Bible, sixty-six books that span the history of the world from the beginning to the end of time. This eternal word was transmitted to us by the hand of forty human writers inspired and superintended by the Holy Spirit over a period of approximately 1,500 years.

The purpose of that revelation was to reveal God’s identity and plan, man’s sinfulness, and God’s provision of a Savior,

“So, faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).

Though God (Yahweh) had left a witness of His divine nature and eternal power in creation (Rom. 1:19-20) and in His providential care (Acts 14:17), and was known and worshiped in the world by contemporaries of Abram—Job and his friends (Job: Jer. 25:20), and Melchizedek, King of Salem (Gen. 14:18), in such far-flung places as Uz, Teman, Shuh, Naamath and Canaan—Abram and Sarai lived in a Godless society. God, therefore, chose to reveal Himself to Abram by direct revelation. He did this in various ways: in theophanies, in a vision, as a voice from heaven, and as a burning firepot (Gen. 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 15:1-16, 18-21; 15:17; 17:1-22; 18:1-33; 22:1-2, 11-18).

“The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and He said to him, ‘GO FROM YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME TO THE LAND WHICH I WILL SHOW YOU’” (Acts 7:2-3). ”When he was only one I called him, then I blessed him and multiplied him” (Isa. 51:2).

WHY DID GOD CHOOSE ABRAM?

In the book of Ephesians, chapter one, verse four says, “He chose us before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” God did not choose Abram because he was holy and blameless, since Romans chapter three reminds us that, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (ROM 3:23). He chose Abram because it pleased Him to do so, so that He might make of him a nation “dedicated to His service alone,”[67] not because Abram merited God’s favor in any way.

Matthew Henry commented on this choice:

“God made choice of Abram and singled him out from among his fellow-idolaters, that he might reserve a people for himself, among whom his true worship might be maintained till the coming of Christ. From henceforward Abram and his seed are almost the only subject of the history in the Bible.”[68]

And John MacArthur noted,

Abraham was a sinful heathen who grew up in an unbelieving and idolatrous society. We do not know exactly how or when God first made Himself known to Abraham, but he was raised in a home that was pagan (Josh. 24:2). His native city of Ur was in Chaldea… Isaiah refers to Abraham as “the rock from which you were hewn” and “the quarry from which you were dug” (Isa. 51:1-2), reminding his fellow Jews that God sovereignly condescended to call Abraham out of paganism and idolatry in order to bless him and the world through him. He may have had higher morals that his friends and neighbors, but this was not the reason that God chose him. God chose him because He wanted to choose him.[69]

HOW WOULD ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED IN ABRAM?

MacArthur further wrote,

The Lord’s purpose in choosing and calling Abraham was to make him the father of a great nation that would be His witness to the world… From the nation that came out of Abraham, prophets would arise. Through them the Scriptures would be given to the world. God would dwell in their midst and set His sanctuary among them. By their lineage a Deliverer, the Messiah, would arise. And in Him, all nations of the world would be blessed (Gen. 18:18).[70]

God would send a Deliverer, the Messiah, from Abraham’s line, the God-man Jesus, who would come into this world as a sinless baby, live a perfect life and die a substitutionary death for sins on Calvary’s cross for all who would trust Him as their Savior (Jn. 1:16; Rom. 8:32; Eph. 1:3; 2:6, 7’ Col. 2:10; 1Pe. 3:9; 2Pe. 1:3, 4). This blessing of justification by faith would be poured out on believing Jews as well as believing non-Jews (Gentiles). As Galatians 3:6-9 says,

“Even so, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, ‘All nations will be blessed in you.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”

DOES GOD GIVE DIRECT REVELATION TO PEOPLE TODAY?

No, we have the closed canon of the Scriptures to tell us about God and man, the way to salvation, and how to live a life that is pleasing to God. The Bible (Old and New Testaments) contains all that we need for life and godliness (2 Pe. 1:3) and reveals God’s interaction with man from creation to the future new heavens and new earth (Rev. 21). There is no need for more revelation.

WHAT IS A THEOPHANY?

A theophany is a visible appearance or manifestation of God, particularly in the Old Testament.[71] Another definition is this: “Any visual manifestation of the presence of God…But even in a theophany a person does not actually see God Himself. This is an impossibility according to Exodus 33:20; 1 Timothy 6:16; and 1 John 4:12.”[72] The most frequent theophany is the Angel of the Lord, but others are the burning bush (Exo. 3:1-6), the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud (Exo. 24:16-18, and the cloud of the glory of the Lord (Exo. 40:34-38).

WHAT DID GOD PROMISE ABRAM?

Three times God appeared to Abram/Abraham and promised him reward, with each appearance bringing more expansive promises:

“The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and He said to him, ‘LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.’” (Acts 7:2-3).

“Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:1-3).

“God talked with him, saying, ‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall you be named Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God’” (Gen. 17:3-8).

God promised Abram four things:

Seed (Gen. 17:2-7; Gal. 3:8, 16).

Land (Gen. 15:18-21: 17:8).

A nation (Gen. 12:2; 17:4).

Divine blessing and protection (Gen. 12:3).[73]

WHAT IS THIS PROMISE CALLED?

A COVENANT. The word "covenant" means: “a usually formal, solemn, and binding agreement.”[74] A covenant can be between two people or between God and man; it can be conditional (on the performance of an action) or an unconditional promise to bless. The Hebrew word for making a covenant is berith,"to cut a covenant,” (pledges and promises to be kept upon pain of death, represented by cutting a blood sacrifice. This is an everlasting covenant with Abram and his descendants.

Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary adds,

By making a covenant with Abraham God promised to bless His descendants and make them His special people. Abraham, in return, was to remain faithful to God and to serve as a channel through which God’s blessings could flow to the rest of the world (Gen..12:1-3). All divine covenants originate with God (GEN 9:9); all of them are everlasting (GEN 9:16); all of them are memorialized with a visible sign … The Abrahamic covenant sign is circumcision (Gen. 17:11).[75]

A. Sarai Forsook Her Homeland for Abram:

“When he [Abram] was only one I called him” (Isa. 51:2: Gen. 12:1-3; 13:16; 15:5; 17:5; 22:17).

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11:8).

1. God ordered Abram from Ur: a. God called, qara, “to call, summon,” Abram; literally it reads “when Abram was being called” and the impact of the call was such that Abram purposed to obey “as soon as he understood what God was saying.”[76]

b. God appeared, raah, “to see,” to Abram; perhaps God appeared to Abram like a man as He would do later when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed (Gen. 18:1-33).

c. God commanded him to leave, halak, “to go.”

d. God brought, yatsa, “to go, to come out,” Abram out of Ur.

“He [God] also said to him [Abram], ‘I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land and to take possession of it’” (Gen. 15:7).

e. Abram went out, exerchomai, “to go” or “come out of;” he obeyed, hupakouo, “to listen, attend to, obey,” God’s command.

God called Abram to leave Ur, and he understood and accepted the commandment, and by faith, he immediately made preparations to leave Ur.

2. Sarai departed from Ur with Abram (and family):

“Now Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his-daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans” (Gen. 11:31).

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11:8).

a. She went out, yasta, “to go” or “come out” or “brought out,” from Ur. She left Ur with the intention of never returning:

“They are seeking a country of their own. And indeed, if they had been thinking of that country which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them” (Heb. 11:14-16).

b. She went out together, eth, “with.” She left Ur in the company of her husband, her father and her nephew. It is interesting to note that though the command to leave Ur came to Abram it was Terah, her father, who seems to have taken charge of their departure, and he came with Lot in tow. Terah took, laqach, “took,” (“accepted and placed under one’s care and keeping”)[77] charge of the family’s departure.

c. She went out, not knowing, epistamai, “to know, to understand, where, pou, “where?” she was going, erchomai, “to come, go.”

d. She went out by faith, pistis, “faith, to have confidence in.”

Even though it was Abram who was called to leave Ur, as his wife Sarai was also called to leave Ur; she was also being called to a life of faith in her husband and God.

“The holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord; and you have proved to

be her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear” (1 Pe. 3:3-6).

B. Sarai Journeyed into the Unknown with Abram:

1. She traveled to Haran.

“Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran” (Acts 7:3).

“And they went as far as Haran and settled there” (Gen. 11:31).

The direct route to Canaan lay due west of Mesopotamia, across the Syrian Desert, a vast dry shrub desert with summer day temperatures over 104 degrees and winter nights below freezing, but this way was unsuitable for herds of animals, which Abram undoubtably had.[78] The better route, the “Royal Highway,” followed the Euphrates River north-west through the fertile crescent toward Haran, and past the thirty-three other city-states of the Euphrates Valley where supplies could be replenished and food and water be obtained. It was a journey of about 600 miles and would have taken about three months of continuous travel to complete.[79]

Haran, or Harran, was a prosperous, walled, city-state in Upper Mesopotamia along the Balikh River, a tributary of the Euphrates River and near the headwaters of the Euphrates, in what is now Turkey. It was a major trade center because it was situated on the main trade route from the Mediterranean Sea and “virtually all overland traffic between Mesopotamia and the western regions of Canaan, Egypt, and the Hittite Empire had to pass through Haran in ancient times.”[80] It would have been the ideal place to resupply for their journey. Because Haran had been settled in c. 2300 B.C. by the Sumerians[81] and had a famous temple for the “moon-god” Sin, the same god revered by Ur,[82] Haran may have seemed just like Ur, a very religious city bustling with commerce. It was also a place where they could sleep safe in a house, on a bed, and take their meals at a table with chairs. (Haran would eventually become the home of Nahor, Sarai and Abram’s brother, and would be the place to which Jacob would come in search of a bride, Genesis 28:10; 29:4-30.)

a. She settled, yashab, “to sit, remain, dwell,” in Haran; instead of traveling on, the family began living in Haran.

b. She acquired, asah, “do, make;” she filled the “to do” list by buying the supplies they needed to move on: possessions, rekush, “property, goods, herds,” and persons, nephesh, “a soul, living being, person.”

“… All their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran” (Gen. 12:5).

WHY DID THEY SETTLE IN HARAN?

Scripture does not tell us exactly why or how long they tarried there but it seems to have been related to Terah; Terah was a pagan (Josh. 24:2), a worshiper of the moon god. His name “has been related, by Hebrew scholars, to the Hebrew word yarea, which is the word for moon, and it indicates that he was actually named for the moon god by his father Nahor, also a worshiper of the moon god.”[83] Since Haran was a center for the worship of Sin, the moon god worshiped in Ur,[84] perhaps Terah was reluctant to leave his god. In any case Terah eventually died in Haran, at 205 years of age, after which Abram, Sarai and Lot departed for Canaan (Gen. 11:32).

“The days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran” (Gen. 11:32).

“And from there [Haran], after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living” (Acts 7:3-4).

Their sojourn in Haran must have been at least a few weeks, and possibly years, in order to have settled, to have made burial preparations for Terah, to have a time of mourning for him, to and accumulate the supplies and people that they would have needed for their unknown, new life in the promised land. We know that they were living in tents in Canaan (Heb. 11:8; Gen. 18:1, 9) and had large herds of livestock and many slaves within a few years of leaving Haran (Gen. 13:2); these may have been acquired in Haran before they left there.

WHAT WAS SLAVERY LIKE THEN?

Slavery was an accepted part of life then. Having slaves was considered a status symbol in the ancient

world: wealthy people owned slaves. Slaves were mostly captives from wars but could also be those

who had transgressed the law or were sold to repay debts. Owners could beat their slaves but if a non-

owner harmed or killed a slave the owner received compensation for that slave. Slaves were considered

property and could be bought or sold, gifted or inherited. Their duties ranged from domestic service to

agricultural work, shepherding flocks and herds, business administration, entertainment work and

laboring on public works. But “despite being enslaved, some slaves could own property, marry free

citizens, and even purchase their own freedom.”[85]

2. She traversed the land of Canaan.

“Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and you’re your father’s house, to the land which I will show you’” (Gen. 12:1).

“So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy- five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan” (Gen. 12:4-5).

Canaan was the land that Ham and Canaan, Noah’s son and grandson, had settled in after the Flood (GEN 9:8). It was that area of land that was on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and extended “from Lebanon toward the Brook of Egypt in the south and the Jordan River Valley in the east.”[86] It had five main geographical features: a coastal plain, central highlands, the Jordan Rift Valley, the Transjordan Plateau, and the Negev Desert in the south.[87] In the time of Abram it was occupied by Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Raphaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites (Gen. 17:8) who lived in fortified city-states (Num. 13:27-28, 31; JOS 15:13; Gen. 14:1-9). They were a wicked and idolatrous people who would eventually come under God’s wrath (Gen. 15:16).

Abram and his family went forth, halak, “to go, walk,” from Haran. Abram was 75 years old and Sarai was 65 when they set out walking south toward Canaan, but Abram and Sarai were still young in appearance and vigor (Abram would live another hundred years after this and Sarai another sixty-two years, Genesis 23:1). They would have had to travel 350 miles on foot from Haran in a caravan of wagons, livestock and people before they could enter the land of Canaan. It would probably have taken five or six weeks of travel (if they covered eight to ten miles in a day). They arrived in Canaan in c. 2090 B.C.[88] When they departed, yasta, “to go or come out,” from Haran they left its sophistication, its amenities and its safety to live in tents as strangers in a strange land, and they did not know what lay in store for them in Canaan.

WHY DID THEY TAKE LOT WITH THEM?

Scripture is silent on this. We can only speculate about Abram’s thinking, but it is clear that with Lot’s later fathering of the Ammonites and Moabites, enemies of Israel (Gen. 19:30-38), it would have been better if Abram had obeyed God and left Lot behind.

Matthew Henry commented on this,

Abram was tried whether he loved God better than all, and whether he could willingly leave all to go with God. His kindred and his father’s house were a constant temptation to him, he could not continue among them without danger of being infected by them. Those who leave their sins, and turn to God, will be unspeakable gainers by the change. The command God gave to Abram, is much the same with the gospel call, for natural affection must give way to Divine grace. Sin, and all the occasions of it, must be forsaken, particularly bad company.[89]

a. They came into Canaan and worshiped the LORD:

They left Haran and probably traveled on the “Fertile Crescent” route westward toward the Mediterranean coast, then south along the Syrian coastal plains, through the mountains of Lebanon and onto the Via Maris along the coastal plain of Canaan, then past the Sea of Galilee, and through the Jezreel Valley. It would have been an arduous trek.

Modern-day Sar-El Tours had this to say about their journey:

Travel in Abraham’s [Abram’s] time involved significant hazards. Bandits posed a constant threat to caravans carrying valuable goods. Weather conditions, from flash floods in wadis (dry riverbeds) during rainy seasons to scorching heat on the summer months, could prove dangerous. Political boundaries between city-states and kingdoms required diplomatic navigation, possibly including tolls or permissions to pass through territories.[90]

And the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him” (Gen. 12:6).

When they came to the walled city of Shechem, and to the oak of Moreh in the valley between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim, they had traveled about 400 miles from Haran.[91] There God appeared to Abram and assured him that this was his promised inheritance, and there he built his first altar to the LORD (Gen. 12:6-7).

“Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD” (Gen. 12:9).

They then continued 20 miles south on the trade road to Bethel, also known as Luz, another walled city, built upon a tell 2,900 feet above sea level. The top of the tell was a high place of worship by the Canaanites,[92] but Abram went east of Bethel to another hilltop where there was water for his people and animals, and there he built an altar and called upon the name of the LORD. This phrase is first used in Genesis 4:26, when godly Seth worshiped God and prayed for mercy and favor.

b. They came into Canaan and found severe, kabed, “heavy, burdensome,” famine, raab, “famine, hunger” (Gen. 12:9-10).

There had been famine in the Fertile Crescent before they left Ur, there was famine in Canaan and they would find famine in Egypt when they journeyed there. Archeological evidence and historical records tell us that there was a long-term drought at this time across Africa and the Middle East; Egyptian records indicate that these famine conditions lasted for 100 years.[93] Famine in Canaan is mentioned here and in Genesis 26:1 and again in Genesis 41:56.

c. They came into the Negev.

“Then Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev. Now there was a famine in the land” (Gen. 12:9).

They traveled south to escape the famine. A logical destination in the Negev from Bethel was the oasis of Beersheba where there was abundant water (about 30-40 miles south); from there they may have traveled another 33 miles to Kadesh-Barnea, the oasis on the southernmost edge of the Negev. This was dry and semi-desert land, normally good for pasturing animals but, because of the famine it was not.

3. She trekked down to Egypt:

“Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.”

a. She went down, yarad, “to come, go down, descend. Egypt was south and west of Canaan. The border was about 200 miles from the Negev. To reach Egypt from the Negev they would probably have traveled The Way of Shur, a desert caravan route through the wilderness of Shur where there were occasional oases for water,[94] a necessity for a large caravan of people and animals.

b. She went to sojourn, gur, “to temporarily reside,” in Egypt. Abram and Sarai knew their blessings lay in Canaan, so they only intended to sojourn until they could return to Canaan.

c. She went to Egypt. Egypt had been a great nation under the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 B.C.); great building projects like the pyramids and the Sphinx had been constructed, Egyptians had engaged in widespread trade and lived under a strong centralized government located in Memphis. But when Abram and Sarai arrived the political climate was less stable because power had shifted to two competing “kingdoms,” one in the south and one in the north. This somewhat chaotic environment made it easier for them to slip into the Nile Valley unhindered.[95] While Egypt was also experiencing severe conditions from a prolonged drought in central Africa (the location of the two headwaters of the Nile River, c. 2150-2040 B.C.),[96] Egyptians had adopted successful methods for coping with the crisis: they had long-term grain storage depots and experimented with drought-tolerant crops, they developed irrigation canals and ditches to divert the Nile to distant fields and invented mechanical devices to more efficiently lift buckets of water from wells and canals, they emphasized livestock breeding rather than planting crops, and there was a migration from the country to cities for better availability of foodstuffs.[97] So, in Egypt “food was usually in

abundant supply.”[98]

C. She Entrusted Herself to Abram:

“It came about, when he was approaching Egypt, that he said to his wife Sarai, ‘See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, “This is his wife” and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.’ Now it came about, when Abram entered Egypt, that the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and he gave him sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

“But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, ‘What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, “She is my sister,” so that I took her for myself as a wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go!’ And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him” (Gen. 12:11-20).

1. She submitted to Abram in Egypt.

“Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord” (Eph. 5:22).

“Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord…” (1 Pe. 3:6).

a. Abram persuaded her to pretend to be his sister.

It was true that Sarai was Abram’s sister but that was only half true—she was his wife as well. Abraham confessed to Abimelech years after this episode that, “when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother”’” (Gen. 20:13). So, this then, was their regular practice dating from God’s call to leave Ur or Haran. Scripture does not reveal Sarai’s feelings about Abram’s plan, but she was over sixty-five years old at this time and had had a lifetime of being submissive to her husband, and of being devoted to him, so it is not strange that she yielded to Abram. The onus for this plan was upon Abram. His lying scheme not only placed Sarai in potential danger of being snatched from him, but it also displayed a lack of trust in God’s sovereign protection over him.

When Pharaoh gave Abram handsome gifts of animals, gold and silver was this a bride price for Sarai?

b. Abram allowed her to be taken into Pharaoh’s house.

WHO WAS THIS PHARAOH?

The historical record is poor during this period, but it appears that there were three rulers in Egypt who could be called “pharaoh” when Abram and Sarai arrived. Pharaoh Pepi II Neferkara (c. 2278-2185 B.C.) was the titular ruler over all Egypt, but was senile and had lost control of his empire in the last days of his 94-year reign.[99] His power had been dispersed among his regional governors, and two of these men were the actual sovereigns over north and south Egypt, ruling from the city-states of Heracleopolis Magna in the north and Thebes in the south.[100]

One of these “pharaohs” was headquartered in Thebes (modern day Luxor) 500 miles south of the Mediterranean Sea, while the other ruled from Heracleopolis Magna in the Nile Delta. Of these two “pharaohs” the one most likely to be the pharaoh mentioned in the Scriptures was the northern ruler at Heracleopolis Magna, a man named Ouakha-Re Khety III (c. 2110- 2075 B.C.), possibly also known as Wahkare Khety. A papyrus attributed to him titled, “Teaching for King Merykare,” from The Heritage Museum and currently housed in Copenhagen (NO. 1115), expresses his belief in an omnipresent and omniscient Creator God.[101] Also, his capital city-state, Heracleopolis Magna, was located on the Nile River, at the mouth of the Nile Delta, only 200 miles south of the Mediterranean Sea,[102] a place where Abram was more likely to have come.

WHAT WAS PHARAOH’S HOUSE?

Egyptian harems were not sequestered in luxurious prisons as Middle Eastern or Asian harems were. In Pharoah’s household his Royal Wife and other wives, daughters and their children lived in a designated area, in their own lavish quarters, within the Pharoah’s palace. They had the freedom to move about the palace, to leave it to attend to personal business or to accompany the Pharaoh. These wives had responsibilities and roles in the court and could have privileges like personal attendants, a personal tomb, and titles.[103]

c. Sarai was preserved by the LORD: 1) The LORD struck Pharaoh’s and his house with great, gadol, “great,” plagues, nega, “a stroke, mark, plague.” Some type of visible sicknesses afflicted Pharaoh’s house, either with intense suffering or with multiple episodes, so that he did not touch her. Pharaoh undoubtedly searched for a cause and found it to be because, al, “upon, above, over” plus beli, “a wearing out, because” of his marrying an already married woman, Sarai. However, Scripture does not indicate how Pharaoh found out this information.

2) Pharaoh rebuked Abram and he was disgraced for his deception; Sarai was returned to her husband. Sarai must have been encouraged by her deliverance, and her faith in the LORD must have grown by this.

“So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him” (Gen. 13:1).

2. She petitioned Abram in Canaan:

“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maid woman whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, ‘Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go into my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.’ And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. Then he went into Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight. And Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.’ But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.’ So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence” (Gen. 16:1-6).

God had promised Abram that he would father a nation (Gen. 12:2) have descendants (Gen. 13:15) and have an heir from his own body (GEN 15:4). In faith Sarai and Abram waited for the conception and birth of the promised child, but ten years passed without them seeing the promise fulfilled. In the intervening years Lot had been captured and rescued, and God had reckoned Abram to be righteous because he had believed His word (Gen. 15:7). Though Abram and Sarai believed in Him, she began to doubt that she would ever bear “the” child. From a human perspective it may have seemed impossible for her to become a mother because she was 75 years old, too old to have a child under normal circumstances. But the Scriptures remind us that nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:17) and that we are to walk by faith and not by our own understanding.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight” (Pro. 3:5-6).

But Sarai reasoned that she could only “get” a child by a surrogate.

“So Sarai said to Abram, ‘Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain (banah, “to build, obtain”) children through her’” (Gen. 16:1).

The authors of Women of the Bible: A Visual Guide to Their Lives, Loves, and Legacy wrote,

Ancient Mesopotamian records confirm that if a wife proved infertile, she was expected to give her husband a substitute to bear children for her. Thus, in proposing her slave Hagar as a surrogate mother Sarah simply followed accepted social mores… Still, neither spouse appeared to pray about using Hagar as a surrogate or consider the ramifications in view of what God already had revealed to Abraham.[104]

And Matthew Henry commented,

Sarai, no longer expecting to have children herself, proposed to Abram to take another wife, whose children she might; her slave, whose children would be her property. This was done without asking counsel of the Lord. Unbelief worked, God’s almighty power was forgotten. It was a bad example, and a source of manifold uneasiness. In every relation and situation in life there is some cross for us to bear: much of the exercise of faith consists in patiently submitting, in waiting the Lord’s time, and using only those means which he appoints for the removal of the cross. Foul temptations may have very fair pretences and be coloured with that which is very plausible. Fleshly wisdom puts us out of God’s way. This would not be the case, if we would ask counsel of God by his word and by prayer, before we attempt that which is doubtful.[105]

                                           a. Sarai appealed to Abram to give her a child by Hagar:

                                              “Please go into my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.”

                                                                     1) Please, na, “please, I pray, now, I beseech.” “This is a particle used to soften a                                                                  command or request. It is used to express entreaty, exhortation or to make a                                                                                request more polite.”[106]

                                                                     2) Go into, bo, “to come in, go in, enter” my maid. This is a euphemism for sexual                                                                intercourse.

                                              This was more than simple intercourse; it was marriage to a secondary wife. Sarai was                                                       proposing that Abram enter into a relationship with her maid (slave) that would elevate her                                             to the status of a concubine, with rights to food and clothing and an understanding that she                                               would never be sold or divorced.[107] While Sarai had a legal right to give her slave to her                                                   husband it  was a violation of God’s revealed word that marriage should be between one                                                     man and one woman (Gen. 2:23). And for Sarai, using Hagar to circumvent God’s will for                                                  her, (“God has prevented me from bearing children”) was sin.

                                              As commentator David Guzik noted about Genesis 16:1,

                                              Sarai understood that God was sovereign over the womb. He had promised descendants to Abram

                                              and Sarai, and they had not yet come after many years. There was a lot of pain in these words: the                                                 pain of hope deferred making the heart sick (PRO 13:12); the pain of prayers not answered; the pain

                                              of arms that had never yet held her own child; the pain of public shame... Nevertheless, this was                                                     against God’s will for many reasons: it was sin of unbelief in God and His promise—Sarai believed in                                                         God’s sovereignty over the womb, then acted against it; it was sin against God’s plan for marriage—                                               that one man and one woman come together in a one-flesh relationship; it was sin against Abram

                                              and Sarai’s marriage—this surrogacy wasn’t done in a doctor’s office, but in a bedroom.[108]

WHO WAS HAGAR?

Hagar was a"shiphchah,"a female servant or slave. Her name means "flight" or "fugitive" or immigrant;” it comes from an unused Egyptian word which means, “a wheel.”[109] She was an Egyptian. She may have been one of the attendants that Pharaoh assigned to Sarai when Sarai was part of Pharaoh’s household, one of the people whom Pharaoh gave to Abram, or one of the “people” they acquired in Haran. If she was a gift from Pharaoh, she would probably have been one of the more attractive and cultured slaves. Her job would have been to serve Sarai as a personal attendant in domestic chores such as cleaning, washing, cooking, and in attending to Sarai’s other needs. She would have slept by the door in Sarai’s tent.[110]

                       WHAT DID SHE LOOK LIKE?

                       If she retained her Egyptian form of attire she would have worn a white linen garment that                      went from her shoulders to her feet, either a simple rectangular garment that was loosely  wrapped around her body and tucked in at the waist, or a long sheath dress held up by one                     or two straps. She would have worn sandals on her feet and simple jewelry around her neck   and wrists. Black makeup (kohl) may have been used around her eyes. She would probably     have had dark hair and eyes and medium brown skin. Her hair would have been shoulder  length, straight and blunt-cut, with bangs.[111] She would have probably stood about five feet       two inches tall (since that was the average height of ancient Egyptian women).[112]

               “And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.  After Abram had lived ten years in the land of    Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband                     Abram as his wife. Then he went into Hagar, and she conceived” (Gen. 16: 3-4).

                                              3) Abram accepted Hagar as a wife: “Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.”

                                              As in the Garden of Eden where the husband followed the ungodly lead of the                                                wife, so Abram followed the advice of Sarai, putting his wife before God’s word.                              And perhaps Abram also began to reason that God’s promise of an heir only                                                    pertained to him and not to Sarai, and that the practice of polygamy would                                                      accomplish the birth of “the promised child.”

                       Abram went into Hagar, and she conceived (Gen. 16:4).

                       WHY DID GOD ALLOW THIS?

                       The Westminster Confession (3.1) defines God’s will this way;

                       God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably                   ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence      offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but                    rather established.[113]

                                              In other words, God allowed the sinful choices of Sarai and Abram to be incorporated into                                               His plan for the birth of Isaac and Ishmael (Gen. 16:10; 21:13, 18). Nevertheless, Abram and                                           Sarai reaped the consequences of their sinful actions—the birth of Ishmael brought discord                                               and complications to Abram’s household and future conflict with his descendants.

b. Sarai sought redress from Abram concerning Hagar:

Then he went into Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight. And Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.’ But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.’ So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence” (Gen. 16:1-6).

                                                                     1) Sarai was treated badly by Hagar:

                                              Hagar despised her mistress. The word despised, qalal, literally means, “to be                                                                        slight, swift or trifling,” but it is most often translated as “cursed.” Because Hagar                                                   was able to conceive a child by Abram when Sarai could not, she mocked Sarai as                                                                 a cursed woman. (This is similar to the way that Hannah was treated by her                                                                            husband’s second wife, Peninnah (1 Sam. 1:6).)

                       Hagar despised her mistress, the one who put her into his arms. The word          mistress, gebereth, means, “lady, queen, or mistress.” Sarai (“my princess”) had      authority over Hagar as her “queen” yet Hagar treated her as an inferior because                   of her pregnancy.

                                                                     Hagar wronged Sarai (Gen. 16:5). The word wronged, chamas, means, "to do evil                                                                 or violence.” An evil relationship of rivalry had developed between Sarai and                                                                                            Hagar, perhaps even to the point where Hagar was seeking to displace Sarai.

                                                                     This overturning of proper roles was unbearable for Sarai. As it says in the                                                                               Proverbs,

                   "Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a servant                         who becomes king, a fool who is full of food, an unloved woman who is married,    and a maidservant who displaces her mistress" (Pro. 30:21-23).

“A stone is heavy and the sand weighty, but the provocation of a fool is heavier than both of them” (Pro. 27:3).

Sarai was suffering from the impudence of her slave woman, something she had not anticipated when “she gave a Gentile idolator from a pagan country to Abraham to bear the promised seed.”[114]

                                                                     “And Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done to me be upon you! I gave my                                                                     maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised                                                      in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me’” (Gen. 16:5).

                                                                      2) Sarai blamed Abram for the situation: “may the wrong done to me be upon                                                                        you,” and “may the LORD judge between me and you.” In her anger and                                                                                           frustration, she lashed out at her husband, but implicit in her outburst was a                                                                          plea for Abram to intervene. Note that she had not yet done anything herself                                                                        but was waiting in submission to Abram.

                                                                     “But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is                                                                      good in your sight.’ So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her                                                                                         presence” (Gen. 16:1-6).

                                                                      3) Sarai received permission to discipline Hagar: “Your maid is in your hand.”

                                                                     “Abraham, following societal dictates, abdicated responsibility for the pregnant                                                                    Hagar, leaving her in Sarai’s hands.”[115]

                       Sarai treated Hagar harshly. The word harshly, anah, means “to be bowed                                 down or afflicted.” Sarai afflicted (“to inflict grievous physical or mental                                    suffering on”[116]) Hagar. If Sarai followed custom, she demoted Hagar from                               concubine to slave and perhaps gave her menial or unpleasant tasks to                                            perform. Perhaps she even beat her.

                                                                     According to the Code of Hammurabi, later laws which regulated Mesopotamian                                                                 life,

                       If she has given a maid to her husband and she has borne children and afterwards that                                                maid has made herself equal with her mistress, because she has borne children her                                 mistress shall not sell her for money, she shall reduce her to bondage and count her among                the female slaves.[117]

                                                                     Hagar fled, barach, “to go through, to flee.” Hagar ran away from Sarai’s                                                                                  presence, panim or panch, “face.” This was something she was forbidden by law                                                     to do, something punishable by death,[118] but she chose to plunge into the                                                                              desert rather than submit to her mistress. She was in the wilderness, "on the                                                                         way to Shur" (Gen. 16:7), on the road that ran past Beersheba and led to Shur                                                                                (possibly 50-100 miles away). There the Angel of the LORD confronted her and                                                                      commanded her to return to Sarai and to be submissive toward her. So, Hagar                                                                      returned to what may have been an uneasy peace and bore Ishmael to Abram                                                                            (when he was 86, Genesis 16:7-16).

SHE BECAME THE MOTHER OF NATIONS

She Was Included in the Abrahamic Covenant

Thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael God appeared to Abram:

“Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty;

walk before Me, and be blameless. I will make My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.’ Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, ‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,

and you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall you be named Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.’ God said further to Abraham, ‘Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcise’” (Gen. 17:1-10).

“Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her by the name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.’ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth to a child?’ And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before You!’ But God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him’” (Gen. 17:15-19).

A. God made a covenant with Abram:

1. Covenant blessings: a. He received a new name for God: God Almighty or El Shaddai.

Donald G. Barnhouse exegetes this name in the following way:

Our English word comes from the Greek which translates the Hebrew in other passages, and includes the idea of “might,” but this thought is not in the Hebrew. The dictionaries say the meaning is unknown, but the Hebrew is El Shaddai, and there is a common noun shad which means “breast,” and I believe that the spirit or theology of the passage demands that the meaning be found in the name. God, then, is the One on whose breast His children find their rest and from whom they would draw their nourishment.[119]

b. He received a new, covenant name, Abraham, “father of many nations.”

c. He received the promise that the covenant would be an everlasting, olam, “long duration, antiquity, futurity,” covenant that would extend to Abraham’s descendants through Sarah. 1) Descendants—a multitude of nations

2) Kings from him

3) A Covenant relationship with Abraham and his descendants as God

4) The land of Canaan

d. He received circumcision as the sign of this covenant for all males eight days old.

2. Abraham’s laughter: a. Abraham had laughed in amazement at the announcement of Isaac’s birth, but he believed that he could father a child at 100 years old.

“Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform” (Rom. 4:19- 21).

b. Sarah was declared to be mother of the covenant child, Isaac (laughter).

WHY DID GOD WAIT SO LONG TO GIVE ABRAHAM AND SARAH A CHILD?

God waited until it was impossible for Abraham and Sarah to have a child in the natural way so that the glory of the conception and birth would be His. He was again increasing faith in Abraham and Sarah.

B. God made Sarah part of the covenant:

“Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her by the name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples willcome from her” (Gen. 17:15-16).

“Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac” (Gen. 17:19).

1.Sarai was given covenant blessings: a. God gave Sarai a new name, Sarah, “princess.”

God changed her name from Sarai, “my princess,” to Sarah, “Princess,” a significant sign of the covenant. John MacArthur wrote, “For the first time on record, He specifically brought Sarah by name into the covenant promises… By removing the possessive pronoun (“my”), the Lord was taking away the limiting aspect of her name, since she was to be ancestor to many nations.”[120]

Another commentor said,

“Sarai signifies my princess, as if her honor were confined to one family only. Sarah signifies a princess—namely, of multitudes, or signifying that from her should come the Messiah the prince, even the prince of the kings of the earth.”[121]

b. God promised to bless, barak, “to kneel, bless,” Sarah. To have a son would have brought great happiness to Sarah as her barrenness would be over and she would have a child of her own to raise; how much more of a blessing would it have been to understand that her child would be the progenitor of nations and kings.

c. God promised to give, nathan, “to give, put, set,” a child to Abraham through Sarah. God is the author of life and only He can give a child to a woman.

d. God declared that Sarah would bear, yalad, “to bear, bring forth,” a son, an heir. God brings to birth:

“’Shall I bring to the point of birth but not give delivery?’ says the LORD (Isa. 66:9).

e. God promised that Sarah would ultimately be a mother of nations and of kings, even as Abraham was promised to be the father of a multitude of nations.

2. God commanded the child to be called Isaac (”laughter”) a reminder that Abraham had laughed.

She Experienced God’s Grace

A. She encountered God:

At this point in time few people had personally encountered the Living God (only Adam and Eve, Cain, Noah, Abraham and Hagar, and Job). Adam and Eve had seen God and talked with Him in the Garden (Gen. 2-3), Cain had spoken to Him (Gen. 4:3-15), Noah had heard God speak to him several times over a hundred year period (Gen. 6-9), Abraham and Hagar had both seen and heard God as a theophany (because no one can see God and live) and had spoken to Him, but Sarah had never seen or spoken to God. She had undoubtably heard about the LORD from Abraham, and perhaps Hagar, but she had never experienced Him. Now she was given the opportunity to hear God, to speak to Him and perhaps to see Him in His visitation at the Oaks of Mamre, shortly after His last appearance to Abraham.

“Now the LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold three men were standing opposite him” (Gen. 18:1-2).

WHERE WERE THE OAKS OF MAMRE?

The oaks of Mamre were a large grove of oak trees owned by Mamre, the Amorite, in Hebron (Gen. 13:18), a fortified city-state built on a tell approximately 19 miles SW of Jerusalem and 20-35 miles from Sodom (which was located in the Jordan Valley). The oaks were located at an elevation of 3,051 feet above sea level where there was a spring and farmland.[122]

WHAT WAS ABRAHAM’S TENT LIKE?

Material on ancient tents is scarce, so most scholars refer to Bedouin tents for a reference. Bedouin tents are made of thick dark brown woven goat hair fabric, prickly but waterproof and breathable. The tents are usually oblong in shape with the main overhead portion being comprised of one large awning held up by poles with its ends secured to the ground by cords and pegs. In hot weather the sides of the tent are lifted up, creating a sunshade. A husband’s tent would be divided into two sections by a goat hair curtain, one section for the man and one for his wife; the woman in the inner room could hear what went on in the outer room and in the immediate area outside the door.[123] Sarah would have been able to clearly hear what the LORD discussed with Abraham if the “men” were in Abraham’s side of the tent eating, especially if the sides of the tent were pulled up.

1. A divine orchestration: a. God appeared, raah, “to see,” to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre. Whether they walked in or just suddenly became visible Abraham lifted, nasah, “to lift, carry, take,” up his eyes, ayin, “an eye,” and saw three men, ish, “man.” This was a theophany, or visible appearance of God.

b. God appeared in the heat, chom, “heat, hot,” of the day, yom, “day, afternoon.”

WHAT IS THE HEAT OF THE DAY?

The heat of the day is the period of time between 3:00 and 6:00 PM, when the radiant heat of the ground combines with the heat of the sun to produce the hottest temperature of the day.[124]

WHY DID GOD AND THE ANGELS APPEAR IN THE HOT AFTERNOON?

Scripture is silent about this but we can speculate that the afternoon heat would have caused Abraham to open up his tent, and thus, enabled Sarah to hear better; and the angel’s arrival at Sodom in the evening allowed them to accurately evaluate Sodom’s sinfulness; as it says in 1 Thessalonians, “Those who are drunk, get drunk at night” (1 Thes. 5:7); Job 24:15-16, “The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me;’” and John 3:20, “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed.”

WHAT WAS THE CUSTOM OF HOSPITALITY?

The practice of hospitality, “the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers,”[125] was imperative at a time when wilderness travelers or strangers required rest, food and shelter. The host offered it in the recognition that he might require the same favor in the future. Hospitality began with a word or gesture of greeting by the host; this would be followed by either a formal kiss or a bow, and an offer of the host’s best food. Guests would join the host in the outer part of the host’s tent and a slave would remove the guests’ sandals and wash their feet; their heads would be anointed with spiced olive oil. Food would be set before them and perhaps entertainment provided. When the meal concluded conversation started—traditional stories, proverbs or local gossip would be shared. Departures were delayed so as to not offend the host.[126] Abraham greeted his guests with a bow, respectfully addressed the LORD as, “My Lord,” and offered all of the required elements of Old Testament hospitality.

“And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind Him” (Gen. 18:10).

c. God positioned Himself directly in front of the tent door; it was behind, achar, “the hind or following part,” Him: i.e., the LORD moved as close to Sarah as He could without alarming her.

2. A divine announcement:

“’Where is Sarah, your wife?’ And he said, “There in the tent.’”

“He [God] said, ‘I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, your wife Sarah will have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have become old, am I to have pleasure, my lord being old also?’ But the LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, saying, “Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?” ‘Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.’ Sarah denied it, however, saying, ‘I did not laugh’; for she was afraid. And He said, ‘No, but you did laugh’” (Gen. 18:10- 15).

a. God identified Himself by displaying His knowledge of Abraham’s wife, “Where is Sarah, your wife?

b. God piqued Sarah’s interest by mentioning her name, “Where is Sarah?”

c. God made certain that she heard His promise herself: “Sarah was listening at the tent door.”

As commentator, G.J. Wenham, noted,

The repetition of the promise of Isaac’s birth is not redundant. In 17:19 only Abraham had been told; now Sarah had to be informed (10), for evidently Abraham had not mentioned it to her. The doubling of the message, like the doubling of dreams (41:32), indicates its prompt and certain fulfilment, at the appointed time next year.[127]

B. She heard God declare His glory:

1. His Sovereignty: a. He would surely, shub, “to turn back, return,” return to them next year when she would have a son. This was an oath that God made upon Himself that nothing and no one would prevent Him from accomplishing the birth of the covenant child.

b. He would give Sarah a son.

“He created all things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible” (Col. 1:16). “You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Psa. 139:13).

2. His Omniscience: He knew her thoughts. a. Sarah laughed, tsachaq, “to laugh,” to herself; she did not laugh out loud or at least not loudly enough to be heard, but God knew it and said, “Why did Sarah laugh?”

John MacArthur commented,

We can hardly blame Sarah for this laughter. If someone told a ninety-year-old woman today that she was going to have a baby within a year, laughter might be among the most gentle of responses that one could expect. Abraham himself had laughed not long before when the Lord appeared to him (Genesis 17:17).[128]

1) She and Abraham were old, zaqen, “old, become old, beard,” advanced, bo, “to come in, go in, go,” in age, yom, “day;” i.e., they had lived many days (Gen.18:11).

2) She was past, chadal, “to cease,” childbearing, orach, “a way, path,” + ishahah, “woman, wife, female;” Sarah was post-menopausal and unable to bear a child.

3) She felt old, bala, “to become old, worn out.” Sarah was 89 years old, though she still looked beautiful and young, beautiful enough to catch Abimelech’s eye in the coming weeks and be made part of his harem. Perhaps the life of a nomad was wearing her down or conflict with Hagar was taking its toll or, perhaps, disappointment in being childless was sapping her energy (Pro. 17:22); in any event, Sarah felt old.

4) She doubted that she would have, hayah, “to fallout, come to pass, become,” pleasure, ednah, “delight, a luxury.” This may refer to sexual pleasure, but more likely, in context, it means the pleasure of motherhood after so many years of barrenness.

5) She assessed her husband, My lord, adon, “lord, husband,” as being old, “zaqen, “to be or become old.”

Romans 4:19, “Abraham contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old…”

As John MacArthur noted,

“She was not thinking of a divine miracle but of divine providence working only within the normal course of life, being convinced that, at their age, bearing children was just not naturally possible.”[129]

b. Sarah was afraid, yare, “to fear;” “Why did Sarah laugh?”

MacArthur again commented,

“It is understandable that Sarah was frightened at this point. The Man who was speaking to her husband was clearly no mere mortal…”[130]

1) She denied laughing, “I did not laugh.” It’s interesting that though the LORD was speaking to Abraham, Sarah felt the need to speak to Him herself, and then she lied out of fear.

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love” (1Jo 4:18).

2) God replied, “No, but you did laugh;” He wanted her to understand that He knew the truth.

3. His Omnipotence: He had the power to do this miracle and, in fact, had waited this long to demonstrate His ability to do the impossible; “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”

4. His Holiness and Justice: He allowed Abraham to bargain with Him to demonstrate His rightness in judging Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins the very next day.

C. She was protected by God:

“Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of his wife Sarah, ‘She is my sister.’ So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, ‘Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.’ Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, ‘Lord, will You slay a nation, even though blameless? Did he not himself say to me, “She is my sister?” And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.” In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.’ Then God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours’” (GEN 20:1-8).

Abraham moved from Hebron to the Negev and then to Gerar to sojourn.

WHERE WAS GERAR?

Gerar (“circle, region”) was a town probably built upon Tel Haror, and one of the largest cities in the southern part of Canaan (40 acres). It sat on the western bank of the Wadi esh-Sheri’ah, in the valley of Gerar.[131] This place was near the Mediterranean coast and about nine miles southwest of Gaza.[132]

1. Abraham’s foolish deception:

“Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he lived for a time in Gerar. And Abraham said of his wife Sarah, ‘She is my sister.’ So Abimelech king of Gerar sent men and took Sarah” (Gen. 20: 1-2).

a. Abraham and Sarah repeated the Egypt deception they had used 24 years previously;

1) Both Abraham and Sarah told the lie that Sarah was merely Abraham’s sister (Gen. 20:1, 5); they, perhaps, forgot the humiliation of their earlier attempt to use this ruse.

2) Both Abraham and Sarah exhibited a lack of trust in God’s sovereign protection, and in the existence of fellow believers by resorting to this deception.

b. Abraham again placed Sarah the precarious position of possibly being added to Abimelech’s harem and, thus, of becoming another man’s wife, and also of becoming an adulteress. Plus, the innocent Abimelech would become party to adultery as well.

c. Abraham jeopardized God’s plan for Isaac’s conception and birth by allowing Sarah to be taken at that time.

2. God’s timely intervention:

“But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, ‘Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.’ Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, ‘Lord, will You kill a nation, even though blameless? Did he himself not say to me, “She is my sister”? And she herself said, “He is my brother.” In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.’ Then God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will surely die, you and all who are yours’“ (Gen. 20:3-7).

a. God sovereignly kept Abimelech from touching Sarah (Gen. 20:4, 6).

b. God commanded Abimelech to restore, shub, “to turn back, return,” Sarah or surely die, muth, “to die, be put to death,” both he and everyone in his household (Gen. 20: 3, 7). The God who had recently rained fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah now warned the men of Gerar in Abimelech’s dream that they too were doomed unless they obeyed Him. They were greatly, meod, “muchness, force, abundance,” frightened, yare, “to fear.”

c. God closed, atar, “to restrain, retain,” the wombs, rechem, “wombs,” of Abimelech’s wives and concubines until Abimelech complied (Gen. 20:17-18); this may indicate that some time had passed after Sarah had been added to Abimelech’s harem.

3. Sarah’s ultimate restoration:

“So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the people were greatly frightened. Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, ‘What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.’ And Abimelech said to Abraham, ‘What have you encountered, that you have done this thing?’ Abraham said, ‘Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife; and it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, “This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, ‘He is my brother.’”” Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him. Abimelech said, ‘Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever you please.’ To Sarah he said, ‘Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men you are cleared.’ Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children. For the LORD had completely closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife” (Gen. 20:8-18).

Matthew Henry commented, “Abimelech, being warned of God, takes the warning; and being truly afraid of sin and its consequences, he rose early to pursue the directions given him.”[133]

a. Abimelech restored Sarah to Abraham, along with gifts of sheep and oxen.

b. Abimelech rebuked Abraham for his duplicity:

“Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, ‘What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.’ And Abimelech said to Abraham, ‘What have you encountered, that you have done this thing?’” (Gen. 20:9-10).

Donald G. Barnhouse wrote,

It was a shameful moment for Abraham. There is nothing pretty about the sight of this old man who had just had such lofty experiences, being called to account by a petty Philistine king. It was bad enough that a justified believer, a prophet of God, should be reproved at all by this pagan king, but the disgrace is all the greater, since Abraham was totally responsible for it, and deserved the humiliation. It wasn’t as though he had been caught off-guard. He was guilty of a lie that had been well-rehearsed and which had sent him out of Egypt like a cur with his tail between his legs.[134]

c. Abimelech “covered” Sarah:

The literal Hebrew for this verse reads: “of silver a thousand I have given behold And to Sarah who to all of the eyes a covering you it indeed unto your brother thus she was vindicated everybody and before with you.”

Dr. Barnhouse’s commentary interprets verse sixteen this way:

There was a money gift that was to be spent for veils for Sarah and all her attendants, that they could no longer tempt Abimelech’s subjects by their beauty. The Hebrew reads that it was the gift that was to be their covering. It may also mean that it was a propitiation, an attempt to cover the sin. This would indeed be a rebuke if Abimelech thought that Sarah had no sacrifice which could be presented to God for her sin.”[135]

If Dr. Barnhouse is correct in his interpretation then Abimelech restrained Sarah with a vindication, kesuth, “covering” gift of 1,000 pieces of silver. It would have been another rebuke of their duplicitous behavior.

(However, another interpretation is that the money itself was a sign of her justification.)

d. Abimelech received prayer from Abraham for healing:

e. Abimelech repaid treachery with generosity: “Behold the whole land is before you.” Abraham received grazing rights throughout Abimelech’s domain.

She Miraculously Bore Isaac:

A. She was divinely enabled:

“Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived…” (Gen. 21:1-2a). “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised” (Heb. 11:11).

1. A miraculous conception:

“Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. So, Sarah conceived…” (Gen. 21:1-2a).

a. The LORD took, tsaphan, “to hide, treasure up,” note, paqad, “to tend to, visit, muster, appoint,” of Sarah.

b. The LORD did, asah, “do, make,” for Sarah as He had promised, dabar, “to speak.” God always fulfills His promises because He cannot lie ( ) and there is none to hinder Him from doing so ( ).

c. The LORD gave Sarah conception:

“By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive” (Heb. 11:11). “So, Sarah conceived…”

1) She received, lambano, “to take, receive.”

2) She received faith, pistis, “faith,” from a root word meaning, “to persuade, have confidence in.”

3) She received ability: dunamis, “miraculous power, might, strength,”

4) She received ability to conceive, katabole, “a laying down, “+ sperma, “that which is sown, i.e. seed.”

“So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he had relations with her. And the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son” (Ruth 4:13).

5) She received ability to conceive beyond, para, “from beside, by the side of, by, beside,” the proper time, kairos, “time, season,” of life, helikia, “maturity, i.e. age.”

John MacArthur wrote,

“At 90 (Gen. 17:17), she was long past child-bearing age and had never been able to conceive. God, enabled her, however, because of her faith in His promise.”[136]

d. Sarah considered God faithful, pistos, “faithful, reliable.” This is a statement of faith akin to Abraham’s believing God.

WHEN DID SHE BELIEVE?

Scripture does not give us an “Aha!” moment for Sarah’s faith as it does for Abraham (“Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness,” Genesis 15:6; Gal. 3:6). Rather, it seems to have been a gradual process of sowing and watering the seeds of faith that eventually resulted in saving faith (1 Cor. 3:5-9). The Scriptures say, “Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17) and certainly, she must have heard Abram’s accounts of his meetings with God. We know that she acknowledged that it was God who had prevented her from conceiving a child (Gen. 16:1), and Sarah, herself, had experienced God’s deliverance at least twice, once from Pharoah (Gen.12:17-20) and once from Abimelech (Gen. 20:1-16). She had also witnessed God’s judgment and destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. At some point God turned these seeds into true faith. As the Scriptures said of Lydia, God “opened up her heart to believe” (Acts 16:14, so God opened Sarah’s heart to believe. Her faith was not something that was generated from herself and was not something she earned because of her good works (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 9:16), but rather, was received from God as a gift of God’s grace (2 Pe. 1:1-3).

As John MacArthur wrote,

Salvation is by the power of God in response to faith; and as already noted, faith itself is God’s work, divinely initiated and divinely accomplished (Eph. 2:8-9). Although Lydia, the first convert in what would become the church at Philippi, believed the gospel of Christ, Luke made it clear that “the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul” (Acts 16:14).[137]

And as he once preached at Grace Community Church,

Faith is a gift of God’s grace… This is an internal, inward call of God that cannot be resisted… Every time the word call appears in the category of the Gospel it is an internal, efficacious call from God that brings the dead sinner to life. That’s how the New Testament writers refer to it. It is an unyielding subpoena from God to come into His court to be made alive—to be brought into His court, not to be condemned, not to be judged, but to be declared forgiven, to be made righteous and set free, and to be then adopted as a son and reconciled fully.[138]

In other words, regeneration (or spiritual quickening), an act of the Holy spirit (Mat. 19:28; Tit. 3:5), enabled her to know her sinfulness and need of forgiveness and spiritual transformation. Then God imparted to her the faith that led to her repentance, which then led to forgiveness, a new nature and eternal life (2Cor. 7:9-10; 2Cor. 5:17; John 3:6; 1Pe. 1:3).

Charles Spurgeon noted,

“Regeneration is a change of the entire nature from top to bottom in all senses and respects. Such is the new birth, such is it to be in Christ and to be renewed by the Holy Ghost.”[139]

2. A sovereign appointment:

“Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham named his son who was born to him, the son whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac” (Gen. 21:1- 3). “Sarah said, ‘God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.’ And she said, ‘Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age’” (Gen. 21:6-7). “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain” (Isa. 51:2).

a. Sarah bore the child at the appointed time, moed or moadah, “appointed time, place or meeting;” this was at the divinely ordained moment, in ca. 2065 B.C.[140] As God sovereignly controlled Isaac’s birth so He ordains all births in all eras,

“He made from one man [Adam] every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation” (Acts 17:26).

b. Sarah bore the child of which, asher, “who, which, that,” He had spoken, dabar, “to speak.” God spoke about the birth of the child to Abraham, and it came to pass, just as He once spoke the universe into being.

c. Sarah bore the child in pain, chul or chil, “to whirl, dance, writhe.” Childbirth has been a painful process ever since the curse of increased pain in childbirth was delivered to Eve in the garden of Eden (Gen.3:16). God did not suspend the curse for the birth of this covenant child: Sarah writhed in pain.

WHAT WAS CHILDBIRTH LIKE IN SARAH’S TIME?

In ancient Ur mothers would usually employ a birthing stool upon which they would be seated or squatted during labor and delivery, or they might be seated or squat on bricks, with interludes of standing. Midwives and female relatives would assist in the labor and delivery. Delivery was strenuous, relying on the woman’s strength and her body’s natural contractions to push out the baby. It was painful labor and potentially dangerous with no pain relievers or modern medicines available.[141]

In Ur tree bark was given to a woman to chew during childbirth, and her stomach was massaged with an ointment. A rolling pin, thought to be magical, was rolled over her body while myths and incantations were recited. Amulets, herbal potions, rituals and incantations were employed to ward off malicious spirits and to ensure a safe birth. But in the case of a problem delivery the mother’s attendants were basically helpless to aid her.[142]

3. A blessed infancy:

“Abraham named his son who was born to him, the son whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him” (Gen. 21:3-4). “Sarah said, ‘God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.’ And she said, ‘Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age’” (GEN 21:6-7).

a. Isaac was brought into the Covenant of Grace: 1) Abraham obediently circumcised his son eight days after his birth (Gen. 21:4; 17:10- 14). Failure to have circumcised Isaac would have cut him off from the covenant (Gen. 17:14).

2) Abraham named his son, Isaac, “laughter,” in obedience to God’s command.

b. Isaac’s birth brought Sarah joyous laughter, tsechoq, “laughter.”

As John MacArthur insightfully wrote,

We’re given a fascinating insight into Sarah’s real character by the fact that she saw genuine humor in the way God had dealt with her… Despite her occasional bursts of temper and struggles with discouragement, Sarah remained an essentially good-humored woman. After those long years of bitter frustration, she could still appreciate the irony and relish the comedy of becoming a mother at such an old age. Her life’s ambition was now realized, and the memory of years of bitter disappointment quickly disappeared from view. God had indeed been faithful.”[143]

c. Isaac’s story would bring joy to others: 1) Everyone, kol, “the whole, all,” who hears, shama, “to hear,” will laugh, tsachaq, “to laugh.”

2) Everyone who hears will laugh with me:

John MacArthur, in his commentary on Genesis, wrote,

This brings us back to the basic reason that God chose Abraham and Sarah for this purpose: they were to become beacons to the world around them, demonstrating God’s grace and showing the nations what it meant to be a follower of Jehovah. Sarah realized that the world was watching, and in this glorious moment her faith was vindicated.[144]

WHAT WOULD ISAAC’S BIRTH HAVE MEANT FOR HAGAR AND ISHMAEL?

Documentation of customs in Canaan are few but cuneiform tablets from Ur are abundant, and they reveal that the children from a concubine would be considered legitimate and could inherit the father’s estate if his wife remained childless. However, if the father did not formally recognize the children from his concubine they would inherit nothing. Even if the father recognized the children their inheritance could be greatly reduced.[145] Two other, later, sources exist that may reflect legal traditions during the time of Abraham and may shed light on Ishmael’s position. The Code of Hammurabi, written 350 years after Abraham (c.1754 B.C.), stated that a child born of a concubine should be considered a legitimate heir and entitled to an equal inheritance from his father if his father called him “my son.”[146] The Nuzi Tablets (c. 1600-1400 B.C.), which record longstanding traditions of the Hurrians of Mesopotamia, indicate that children of a concubine should be considered part of the family but might receive a smaller inheritance.[147]

So, the birth of Isaac would not have been an occasion for rejoicing for Ishmael and Hagar. It would undoubtably have created anxiety and resentment in Ishmael over his inheritance rights and made their positions in the family much more precarious.

d. Isaac was nursed, yanaq, “to suck,” by Sarah. God empowered Sarah, at 90, to not only give birth but also nurse her newborn son. If Sarah followed the common practice of ancient Ur, she would have exclusively breastfed Isaac for six months and would then have gradually introduced soft solids to him. The combination of breast milk and easily digested soft foods would have continued until his weaning, with breastmilk diminishing and solid food increasing over time.[148]

e. Isaac grew, gadal “to grow up, become great.” Isaac had matured to the point where he no longer needed to suckle his mother like an infant but could eat solid food like a child.

B. She was devotedly protective:

“And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking Isaac. Therefore she said to Abraham, ‘Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!’” (Gen. 21:8-10). “But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and your slave woman; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named’” (Gen. 21:12). “Now my master’s wife Sarah bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him all that he has (Gen. 24:36).

1. Abraham celebrated Isaac: a. Abraham held a great, gadol, “great,” feast, mishteh, “feast, impressive banquet.” This suggest that this was “a considerable celebration involving family, friends, and potentially even neighbors and prominent figures of the time, as some traditions suggest figures like Heber and Abimelech might have been present.”[149] There would have been tender meats, special wine, bread and olive oil, cheeses, vegetables and fruits, and entertainment.[150]

b. Abraham held a great feast for Isaac’s weaning, gamal, “to deal with, wean, ripen.” Weaning marked a turning point in a child’s life from being solely dependent upon his mother’s milk to a more independent state, passing into childhood from infancy (1Sa. 1:24). Isaac was young, probably between two or three years of age, but could have been as old as four or five.[151]

                  2. Ishmael derided Isaac:

                                  a. He was mocking, tsachaq, “to laugh, make fun of.” This teenager, perhaps sixteen or                                                    seventeen, aggressively and continuously mocked his young half-brother at his own celebration.

                                  b. He persecuted, dioko, “to put to flight, to pursue, to persecute,” Isaac: “the son who was born                                according to the flesh persecuted the one who was born according to the Spirit” (Gal. 4:29).                                                 Ishmael was fulfilling the prophetic word concerning him, "he will be a wild donkey of a man"                                        and "his hand will be against his brother.”

                                  Dr. Barnhouse commented,

“As long as Ishmael was alone, his nature was undetected, but when he was in contrast to the child of grace, he not only despised, but mocked and persecuted God’s Isaac. Isaac, though mocked, is the heir; and his coming casts out that which had hitherto occupied the house of faith.[152]

3. Sarah protected Isaac: a. She saw, raah, “to see, look, access.” 1) She saw Ishmael ridiculing Isaac.

Matthew Henry:

Ishmael’s conduct was persecution, being done in profane contempt of the covenant and promise, and with malice against Isaac. God takes notice of what children say and do in their play; and will reckon with them, if they say or do amiss, though their parents do not. Mocking is a great sin, and very provoking to God.[153]

2) She saw that Isaac was a threat to Isaac.

John MacArthur wrote,

“Ishmael was a threat to God’s purpose for Abraham’s line as long as he remained in any position to claim that he, rather than Isaac, was Abraham’s rightful heir.”[154]

3) She saw that Ishmael was only “the son of Hagar the Egyptian,” not the miracle son, not the rightful son that God intended to inherit Abraham’s wealth and blessings. The phrase, “the son of Hagar the Egyptian” reveals Sarah’s insight into the covenant exclusions that God had made with Abraham and his chosen seed.

Dr. Barnhouse commented,

No communion is possible between Ishmael and Isaac. One is the son of a slave, the other the son of the free woman. The former is the child of Abraham’s natural powers, the latter the child of God’s miraculous intervention in grace. We are told in Galatians that the two boys—though historical—are an allegory of the Old Testament and the New. Up to the time of Isaac’s birth, Ishmael, in the eyes of the world, held succession to the father’s estate. But the birth of Isaac changed everything. Ishmael represents human effort which is opposed to the free gift of God. If grace is to reign, law must be removed.[155]

b. She said, amar, “to utter, say, said,”

“Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!” (Gen. 21:10).

                                                     1) Drive out, garash, “to drive out, cast out,” Ishmael and Hagar.

                                                     One commentor remarked, “Nothing but the expulsion of both could now preserve                                                           harmony in the household.”[156]

                                                             2) Disinherit Ishmael, “not be an heir,’ yaresh, “to take possession of, inherit,                                                                        dispossess.” Sarah was insisting upon Isaac’s preeminence. Just as John the Baptist s                                                    said of himself and Christ, "He must become greater; I must become less," (John                                                                  3:30); the lesser had to give way to the greater. In order for God to deal with                                                                        Abraham and Isaac as He wished Ishmael and Hagar had to be put out of the way.

                                                     John MacArthur commented,

                                                     Was Sarah really being overly harsh? In truth, she was not. Virtually any woman forced                                                                       to share her husband with a concubine would respond to a situation like this exactly as                                                              Sarah did. She was Abraham’s true wife. Hagar was an interloper. Besides, according to                                                                      the promise of God Himself, Isaac was Abraham’s true heir, promised by God to be the                                                                       one through whom the covenant blessing would eventually see fulfillment…  So what                                                                          may appear at first glance to be an extreme overreaction was actually another proof of                                                                      Sarah’s great faith in God’s promise.[157]

                                                     HOW DID ABRAHAM REACT TO SARAH’S DEMAND?

                                                     “The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son Ishmael” (Gen. 21:11).

      The matterdistressed, raa, “to be evil, bad,” Abraham greatly, meod, “muchness, force,                                                   abundance,” because of his son Ishmael” (Gen 21:11); literally it reads in the Hebrew, “it                                                     was very grievous in Abraham’s sight.”

                                                     WHY?

                                                     For fourteen years Ishmael had been Abraham’s only son and heir, and Abraham loved                                                    him (Gen. 17:18; 21:11); Ishmael was as much Abraham’s son as Isaac was. No doubt                                                               Abraham had poured himself into his upbringing until God told him to expect another                                                       son, the son of promise. Even though Ishmael’s presence meant continued conflict in                                                        the family the idea of sending Ishmael away was deeply repugnant to Abraham.

                                                     If the Nuzi laws reflected hundreds of years of custom, he may also have been                                                                      concerned about violating the custom which forbade a man from arbitrarily sending                                                           away a concubine and her son.[158]

4. Abraham expelled Ishmael and his mother:

“But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.’ So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba” (Gen. 21:12-14).

a. Abraham received guidance from God.

Whether Abraham asked God in prayer for wisdom or God spoke to him first it clear that Abraham needed guidance from the LORD. Sarah’s demand seemed completely wrong and without God’s intervention Abraham would not have been willing to obey her wishes. It’s always good to seek the face of the LORD when faced with an important decision because our hearts can deceive us (Jer. 17:9); the book of James assures us that the LORD gives wisdom without reproach to those who ask (Jam. 1:5).

b. Abraham was approved to fulfill Sarah’s demand. 1) Do not be distressed, "to be bad," to send them away (GEN 21:11).

2) Listen, shama, “to hear,” to Sarah, whatever, kol, “the whole” + asher, “who, which, what,” she tells, amar, “to utter, say.” God gave Abraham orders to follow Sarah’s directions regarding Ishmael and Hagar.

3) Remember the covenant: “through Isaac your descendants, zera, “seed, offspring,” shall be named.” Genesis seventeen’s promise was to the chosen descendants—not to Ishmael’s line, but to Isaac’s.

c. Abraham was assured of Ishmael’s future. 1) Ishmael would live and become the father of a nation, goy, “nation, people,” starting with twelve sons (Gen. 17:20, 21:11).

2) Ishmael would be blessed because he was a son of Abraham, the friend of God.

                                                     And Abraham could be comforted in the knowledge that Ishmael at seventeen was the                                                    traditional age when a young man normally established his own home;[159] so Ishmael’s                                       leaving home at this age was a normal step in becoming mature.

d. Abraham obeyed God.

^“So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba” (Gen. 21:14).

1) He hastened to obey God and rose “early, shakam, “to start or rise early,” in the morning.”

                                                      2) He sent them off early in the morning so they could travel in the cool of the day.

3) He loaded them with provisions that they could carry (bread and a skin of water).

                                                     4) He sent them away to Beersheba. Beersheba was a frequent stop for Abraham                                                                because of its abundant water and was the area to which Hagar had previously fled, so                                        she knew it.

Again, Matthew Henry observed,

“…God showed him that Isaac must be the father of the promised Seed; therefore, send Ishmael away, lest he corrupt the manners, or try to take the rights of Isaac. The covenant seed of Abraham must be a people by themselves, not mingled with those who were out of covenant.”[160]

Sarah Was Beloved

A. She was mourned.

“Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Then Abraham arose from mourning before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, ‘I am a stranger and a foreign resident among you; give me a burial site among you so that I may bury my dead out of my sight’” (Gen. 23:1-4).

1. Sarah died, muth,“to die” (c. 2028 B.C.).[161] a. Sarah died at 127, the only woman in the Bible whose specific age is mentioned.

b. Sarah died when Abraham was 137, and he would live another 38 years (and take another concubine and have more children); Isaac was 37 years old when she died.

b. Sarah died at Hebron, probably by the oaks of Mamre, her “home” in Canaan, a cool and grassy place on a mountain top in sight of a field owned by Ephron the Hittite (Gen.23:19).

d. Sarah died as a nomad, without receiving the promises:

“All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen and welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country which they left, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them” (Heb. 11:13-16).

2. Abraham mourned, saphad, “to wail, lament,” and wept, bakah, “to weep, bewail.”

According to traditional burial practices in Ur and Canaan, Sarah’s body would have been carefully washed, treated with spiced oil, dressed and adorned with necklaces and other jewelry, and then wrapped in shrouds or reed mats. As a wealthy woman her body would have been placed in a coffin of wood or clay or wicker. Wailing for the dead was a normal practice of grieving and Abraham, Isaac, and perhaps close companions would have lamented her passing with loud expressions of sorrow. Mourners would have also torn the front of their garments and thrown dust on their heads or dressed in sackcloth as an outward sign of their grief. Canaanites would also slash their bodies, cut their beards and hair, and tattoo themselves in their grief, but these pagan practices probably held no appeal for Abraham.[162]

3. Abraham purchased a burial tomb.

^“Then Abraham arose from mourning before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a foreign resident among you; give me a burial site among you so that I may bury my dead out of my sight” (Gen. 23:3-4).

“Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver which he had named in the presence of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency acceptable to a merchant” (Gen. 23:16).

“So Ephron’s field, which was in Machpelah, which faced Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees which were in the field, that were within all the confines of its border, were deeded over to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who entered the gate of his city. After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave that was in it were deeded over to Abraham fora burial site by the sons of Heth” (Gen. 23:17-20).

a. Abraham spoke, dabar, “to speak,” i.e. to negotiate, with the sons of Heth about a burial site, in Hebron’s city gate where business transactions usually took place (Gen. 23:18).

The sons of Heth was “a settlement of Hittites whose original home was Anatolia (modern day Turkey), who had already been established in Canaan far from their homeland”—John MacArthur.[163]

b. Abraham purchased the field of Machpelah and its cave as a burial site for Sarah. 1) Abraham purchased the cave and field from Ephron the Hittite rather than borrow a tomb or burial plot (Gen. 23:3-18).

2) Abraham willingly purchased the field, it’s cave and all taxes and duties for 400 shekels of silver, possibly an exorbitant amount for the time (1Ki. 16:24; Jer. 32:9).[164]

3) Abraham quickly purchased a burial site for Sarah because the custom was to bury the dead on the day of or next day of their passing.[165]

4) Abraham legally purchased the field and its cave, the first acquisition of Abraham’s inheritance.

Dr. Donald J. Barnhouse wrote,

Abraham was buying the field not only to bury Sarah but to express his confidence in God’s promises. He had lived for sixty years in the land as a nomad, but before he himself died, he mingled the dust of his love with that of the land of promise as a sign of his expectation that God would fulfill the promise of his seed.[166]

4. Abraham buried Sarah.

The custom of Ur was to honor the dead and respectfully send them on to the next world. In their thinking the family bore responsibility for ensuring the safe passage of the departed soul to the afterlife; if the family failed to perform the accepted burial traditions it kept the departed soul from finding its place in the afterlife and the departed might return to haunt them.[167] While most Sumerians buried their loved ones under the floor of their homes so that they could attend to them and give them libations at the proper times, the wealthy utilized stone-chambered tombs.[168]After at least sixty years of knowing and worshiping the true God Abraham certainly did not believe these pagan superstitions about the afterlife but he would have striven to have given Sarah a dignified and honorable funeral.

We do not have records of ancient funerary customs in Canaan, but in the Syrian culture a funeral procession of mourners would have put the coffin on a bier, with a pole on each corner, carried it to the tomb and laid it in the tomb with grave goods (such as prized possessions), food and drink.[169] The custom of employing professional mourners did exist in Abraham’s time in Egypt and other cultures and it’s possible that Abraham hired some to facilitate mourning and as a sign of his wealth and status, but the Scriptures are silent on this point.[170] However, it is likely that songs and laments were sung by Sarah’s grieving family members and associates as they laid her to rest. Then they would have sealed the tomb so that animals and grave robbers could not disturb the body. Lastly they would have then returned home lamenting and shared a light meal.[171]

5. Isaac continued to mourn his mother for three years after her death, until he married (Gen. 25:20).

“Then Isaac brought her [Rebeka] into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah, and she became his wife, andhe loved her; so Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” (Gen. 24:67).

B. She was the matriarch of Israel:

^“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; when he was only one I called him, then I blessed him and multiplied him” (Isa. 51:2).

1. All Israel traces its lineage to her through Isaac and the twelve tribes that arose from Jacob, his son.

2. The kings of Israel trace their lineage to her:

“Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers. Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, and Hezron fathered Ram. Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon. Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, and Obed fathered Jesse. Jesse fathered David the king. David fathered Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, and Abijah fathered Asa. Asa fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fatheredJoram, and Joram fathered Uzziah. Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, and Ahaz fathered Hezekiah. Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, and Amon fathered Josiah. Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon (Mat. 1:2-11).

3. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, traces His lineage through Sarah.

“After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah fathered Shealtiel, and Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel fathered Abihud, Abihud fathered Eliakim, and Eliakim fathered Azor. Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, and Achim fathered Eliud. Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered Matthan, and Matthan fathered Jacob. Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah” (Mat. 1:12-16, Joseph’s genealogy).

“When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years old, being, as was commonly held, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Hesli, the son of Naggai, the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, ²⁹ the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, ³⁴ the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac,the son of Abraham” (Luke 3:23-34, Mary’s genealogy).

a. The right to rule Israel as king came through Joseph, His adopted father (Mat. 1:1-16).

b. The Mary’s Davidic bloodline gave Jesus gave Him the right to David’s throne (Luke 3:23- 34). Mary’s genealogy bypasses the disqualifying king Jeconiah so that Jesus is qualified to be king.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM HER?

A. God expects wives to be submissive to their husbands.

“In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won over without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. Your adornment must not be merely the external—braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear” (1Pe. 3:1-6).

How many wedding vows today contain the promise “to love, honor and obey?” Not many. Yet Sarah is commended in Scripture for her submission to her husband, Abraham, and all women everywhere are commanded to follow her example (1Pe. 3:1-6). The Greek word for submission, hupotasso, means “to rank under.” Sarah considered herself to be under Abraham’s authority, or ranked under him, and she called him lord, kurios, “lord or master.”

As John MacArthur explained,

The apostle Paul, under the Spirit’s inspiration, also taught that wives are to submit to their husbands’ leadership (Eph. 5:22–23; Col. 3:18; Titus 2:4–5). Submission does not imply any moral, intellectual, or spiritual inferiority in the family, workplace, or society in general. But it is God’s design for roles necessary to mankind’s well-being. Along the same lines, a commanding officer is not necessarily superior in character to the troops under him, but his authority is vital to the proper functioning of the unit. That Peter referred specifically to their own husbands (appropriate emphasis added) indicates the intimacy of marriage and points out that he was not commanding women to be servile to all men in every context. Paul also sets forth God’s design for authority and submission in men’s and women’s roles within the church (1 Cor. 11:3, 8–9; 1 Tim. 2:11–14; cf. 1 Cor. 14:34).[172]

B. God commands His chosen people to live by faith.

Stephen said to the Jews, “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and He said to him, ‘GO FROM YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME TO THE LAND WHICH I WILL SHOW YOU.’ Then he left the land of the Chaldeans… (Acts 7:2-5).

Abraham, and Sarah were called to leave their country and their family and go to a land that God would show them. By faith they obeyed God and stepped out into the unknown. John MacArthur wrote, “Walking in faith requires that we accept God’s word at face value, even when it seems impossible that His promises can come true. In this Abram and Sarai provide us with great role models.”[173] And the book of Habakkuk reminds us that “the righteous one will live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4). Just like Abram and Sarai all Christians are called to walk in faith. We do not know everything about God’s plans for us, but as we obey His word and witness His faithfulness our faith will grow as theirs did. Hebrews admonishes us, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen… And without faith it is impossible to please Him for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:1, 6). Let us be people who trust and obey our loving God.

C. We cannot accomplish a spiritual task in a fleshly way.

Abraham and Sarah wanted a child, an heir, so badly that they resorted to fleshly means to accomplish God’s promise. They were required to wait upon God and His timing but impatience and a lack of faith in God’s power led them to “help” God by using Hagar as a surrogate for Sarah. The result was the birth of Ishmael, the persecutor of Isaac, in whose loins were the Arab nations, the enemies of Israel. By trying to take God’s prerogatives into their own hands they unleashed unforeseen long-term consequences and immediate conflicts into their lives. We can see the folly of their actions but are we not sometimes tempted to act as foolishly as they? The word of God says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for those are in opposition to one another…” and “let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (GAL 5:16-17, 25). The means of grace—reading the word, praying, worshiping and fellowshipping with other believers—have been given to us to safeguard our spiritual lives. Either we live by the power of the Holy Spirit, or we will allow our flesh to lead us into sinful and fleshly behaviors.

D. God loves to do the impossible. It was impossible for Sarah to conceive and bear a son at eighty-nine years old when she was menopausal and her aged husband’s body was “as good as dead,” yet that was exactly when God chose to give them a child. It was impossible for the teenaged shepherd boy David, armed with only a sling and five smooth stones, to defeat the heavily armed Philistine giant named Goliath, yet God caused David to prevail over the giant with only one well aimed stone. It was impossible for Gideon and his army of three hundred Israelites to rout the many thousands of Amalekites in the dark, armed with only torches, clay pots and shofar horns, yet God gave Gideon victory over them. And the Bible has many more accounts of God doing the impossible. Why? Because He wants man to know that “nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). We serve a big God. He said rhetorically, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Gen. 18:14). The Creator and Sustainer of this universe is infinitely powerful, infinitely wise and infinitely caring. There is no problem too big for Him to solve, no wound too deep that He cannot heal it, no burden too heavy that He cannot help us carry it. He wants us to know that He can always do “the impossible,” and if it is His will, He will do the impossible for us if we will but ask (John 15:7; James 4:2). He will always act for His glory and our good.

E. God will accomplish His will in our lives.

God chose Abraham and Sarah to become the parents of Isaac and so become the progenitors of the Jewish nation. He ordained that the Jewish nation would be the channel through which the Messiah, the Savior of the world, would come. Along the way He bestowed faith upon Abraham and Sarah and transformed them from being spiritual babies into being heroes of the faith. And God has a plan for each of us too. The Apostle Paul, writing to the church in Philippi, and thus to all Christians, wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phi. 1:6). God’s good work in every Christian began the moment of his or her salvation and will continue until Christ Jesus returns. And that good work is that Christians “would be holy and blameless before Him” and be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Eph. 1:4; Rom. 8:29). And He has also designed that Christians will accomplish good works also: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10). These are not acts done to gain salvation but done by the Spirit in believers because they are already saved. And when their earthly life is over and their good deeds are all accomplished God will take believers to heaven to be with Him forever.

For those who are not Christians there is only a terrifying expectation of judgment. God is a holy and righteous Sovereign Who will by no means let sin against Him go unpunished. As it says in the book of Jude, the Lord will “execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and all of the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him” (Jude 15). Hell is a very real place, a place of eternal fire and brimstone, and it has been prepared for the just punishment of sinful angels and men.

However, God gave His only begotten Son, the Messiah (Christ) of Abraham’s line, to bear the sin penalty for mankind as their substitute. As it says in the Gospel of John, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus stepped down from heaven and became a sinless human being to take all the punishment due for sin upon Himself and to impute His righteous life to all who believe in Him. If you have never had your heart opened to respond to this good news, if you have never been regenerated and become spiritually alive, then pray that God will give you the faith to repent of your sins and trust Jesus as your Savior and Lord. There is salvation in no other name (Acts 4:12).

[2] “Sarah Meaning,” Abarim Publications, http://abarim-publications.com.

[4] John MacArthur, “Paganism and Promise: Genesis 11:10-32,” Grace To You, September 9, 2001, https://www.gty.org.

[5] Herbert Lockyer, “Sarah,” All the Women of the Bible, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House, pg. 156.

[6] Ariadne Malamitsi-Puchner, Ioannis M. Konstantakos, “Evidence, hints and assumptions for late pregnancy in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East: Marriage and Reproduction in Ancient Mesopotamia,” Wiley Online Library, April 01, 2023, https://wwww.onlinelinbrary.wiley.com.

[7] Joshua J. Mark, “Women in Ancient Mesopotamia,” World History Encyclopedia, October 07, 2020, https://www.worldhistory.org.

[8] “Study Notes,” The MacArthur Study Bible, pp. 17, 1416.

[9] “Brother-sister marriages in ancient Mesopotamia,” Google AI Overview.

[11] Joshua J. Mark, “Women in Ancient Mesopotamia,” World History Encyclopedia, October 07, 2020, https://www.worldhistory.org.

[13] John MacArthur, “Sarah: Hoping Against Hope,” Twelve Extraordinary Women, pg. 28.

[14] “Mesopotamian Women and Their Social Roles,” History on the Net, https://www.historyonthenet.com.

[15] Wiley Online Library, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.

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[37] Encyclopedia Iranica, https://www.encyclopediairanica.com.

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[42] “Moon Goddess Nanna,” Smarthistory, https:///www.smarthistory.org.

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[44] Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, “Mesopotamian Beer Rations Tablet,” World History Encyclopedia, April 07, 2016, https://worldhistory.org.

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[48] Eric Betz, “Who Were the Ancient Sumerians?” Discover Magazine, November 10, 2020, https://www.discovermagazine.com.

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[52] Joshua J. Mark, “Fashion & Dress in Ancient Mesopotamia,” World History Encyclopedia, March 16, 2023, https://www.worldhistory.org.

[54] “Amorites,” International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Online, https://www.internationalstandardbible.com, accessed on September 5, 2025.

[56] Joshua Rapp Leam, “The Rise of the Akkadians,” Discover Magazine, August 27, 2021, http://discovermagazine.com.

[57] “Ur’s trading partners,” Google AI Overview, accessed on September 5, 2025.

[58] Joshua J. Mark, “Women in Ancient Mesopotamia,” World History Encyclopedia, October 07, 2020, https://www.worldhistory.org.

[59] The American Heritage College Dictionary: Third Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston*New York, pg. 490.

[60] The American Heritage College Dictionary, pg. 120.

[61] “What did ancient Egyptian women look like?” Google AI Overview, April 17, 2025.

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[63] “Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia,” World History Encyclopedia, April 15, 2014, https://www.worldhistory.org.

[64] “Near East Kingdoms: Gutians/Gutium (Southern Mesopotamia) (Indo-Europeans?”), The History Files, https://www.historyfiles.co.uk.

[66] “What is special revelation?” Google AI Overview.

[68] Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, “Genesis: Chapter Twelve.”

[69] John MacArthur, “Why did God Choose Abraham?” Grace To You, June 8, 2023, https://www.gty.org.

[70] John MacArthur, “Sarah: Hoping Against Hope,” Twelve Extraordinary Women, pg. 32.

[73] “Study Notes,” The MacArthur Study Bible, pg. 18.

[74] Merriam Webster, http://www.merriam-webster.com.

[75] Ronald F. Youngblood, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, pg. 306.

[76] John MacArthur, “Why Did God Choose Abram?” Grace To You, June 8, 2023, https://www.gty.org.

[77] The American Heritage College Dictionary, pg. 1382.

[78]“Mesopotamian Shrub Desert,” Wikipedia, en.m.wikipedia.org.

[79] Malachi Martin, “Footsteps of Abraham,” The New York Times, March 13, 1983, https://www.nytimes.com.

[80] “Harran Turkey,” The Complete Pilgrim, August 7, 2014, https://www.thecompletepilgrim.com.

[81] “Haran,” Madainproject, https://www.madainproject.com.

[82] “Harran,” Livius.org, http://www.livius.org.

[83] John MacArthur, “Paganism and Promise: Genesis 11:10-32,” Grace To You, September 9, 2001, https://www.gty.org.

[84] “Haran,” BiblePlaces.com., https://www.bibleplaces.com.

[85] “Slavery in ancient Mesopotamia,” Google AI Overview.

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[87] “Topography of Canaan,” Topical Encyclopedia, https://www. biblehub.com.

[88] “Study Notes, The MacArthur Study Bible, pg.18.

[89] Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, “Genesis.”

[90] “What Happened on the Journey from Haran to Canaan?” Sar-El Tours and Conferences, July 01, 2024, https://www.sareltours.com.

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[98] “Study Notes,” The MacArthur Study Bible, pg. 19.

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[105] Matthew Henry, “Genesis,” Chapter 16:1-3.

[106] “The Hebrew word, na,” Google AI Overview.

[107] “A Concubine’s Rights in Canaan,” Google AI Overview.

[109] Herbert Lockyer, All the Women of the Bible, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House, pg.61.

[110]“Where would servants sleep in nomadic groups?” Brainly.com, http;//brainly.com>question, May 19, 2020.

[111] J. Hill, “Clothing,” Ancient Egypt Online, 2010, www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk.

[112] Ucra Mew, Student Engager, “How Tall were Ancient Egyptians,” Petrie Museum, January 21, 2015, © Petrie Museum, petriemuseum@ucl.ac.uk.

[113] “The Westminster Confession of Faith,” chapter 3.1, https://www.westminster.wordpress.com.

[114] Lockyer, All the Women of the Bible, pg. 62.

[115] Women of the Bible: A Visual Guide to their Lives, Loves, and Legacy, pg. 159.

[116] The New American Heritage College Dictionary, pg. 22.

[117] Lockyer, “Hagar,” All the Women of the Bible, pg. 62.

[118] Lockyer, “Hagar,” pg. 62; Carol Smith, Rachael Phillips, Ellyn Sanna, Women of the Bible, pg. 161.

[120] MacArthur, Twelve Extraordinary Women, pp. 43, 44.

[121] “Sarai vs Sarah,” The Puritan Board, May 17, 2006, citing Matthew Henry, https://www.puritanboard.org.

[122] “Study Notes,” The MacArthur Study Bible, pg. 20.

[123] “Tent Dwellings,” Ancient Hebrew Research Center, https://www.ancient-hebrew.org.

[124] “The Heat of the Day,” Google AI Overview, accessed on August 2, 2025.

[125] “Hospitality,” Google AI Overview, accessed on August 2, 2025.

[129] “Study Notes,” The MacArthur Study Bible, pg. 24.

[131] “Gerar: Tel Haror,” BiblePlaces.com., https://www.bibleplaces.com.

[132] “Valley of Gerar,” Bibleatlas.org., https://www.bibleatlas.org.

[136] “Study Notes,” The MacArthur Study Bible, pg. 1659.

[138] MacArthur, “The Divine Summons: 2 Peter 1:1-3,” Grace To You, https://www.gty.org.

[139] Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “The Believer a New Creature: 2 Corinthians 5:17, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Volume 15, July 18, 1869, https://www.spurgeon.org.

[140] “Study Notes,” The MacArthur Study Bible, pg. 28.

[141] “What was childbirth like in Sarah’s time? Google AI Overview.

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[143] MacArthur, Twelve Extraordinary Women, pg. 47.

[144] MacArthur, “The Birth of Isaac,” Genesis 12-33, “pg. 97.

[146] “Hammurabi’s Code of Laws on Women, Divorce and Family and Personal Matters: #170,” Facts and Details, https//www.africame.factsanddetails.com.

[148] “Weaning,” Bible Hub, https://www.biblehub.org.

[150] Wight, Manners and Customs of Bible Lands, pp. 44-54, 65-66.

[154] MacArthur, Twelve Extraordinary Women, pg. 48.

[156] “Genesis 21:10,” Jamieson-Fausset Brown Bible Commentary, https://www.biblehub.com.

[157] MacArthur, Twelve Extraordinary Women, pg. 48.

[159] “Study Notes,” The MacArthur Study Bible, pg. 28.

[161] “Study Notes,” The MacArthur Study Bible, pg. 30.

[162] Joshua J. Mark, World Encyclopedia, “Burial in Ancient Mesopotamia,” February 28, 2023, https://www.worldhistory.com; Google AI, “What were the Burial practices of Ur?”

[163] “Study Notes,” The MacArthur Study Bible, pg. 30.

[164] “Study Notes,” ESV Study Bible, pg. 89.

[165] “Funeral Processions in Ancient Ur.” Google AI Overview.

[167] Joshua J. Mark, “Burial in Ancient Mesopotamia,” World History Encyclopedia, February 28, 2023, https://www.worldhistory.com.

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